The Importance of Getting Enough Exercise

 

 

 Today I was going to do a product review, but I think I'm going to just post that tomorrow because today I was out hiking with my family all day and never got to take any pictures for the review.

 

So, instead, here's an article I compiled on my personal blog last year that I thought you all would enjoy.

 

In this country, just about everyone already knows about the need for exercise.

 But not everybody takes it seriously. And then, there are some people take it too far. Just like anything else, exercise should be a balanced activity. Enough to burn calories, strengthen your body and refresh your spirit, but not so much that you find yourself cringing in pain for the next week.

 

So, why exactly does the human body require exercise and movement?

 

1. Aerobic exercises benefit the circulation of your blood through your heart and blood vessels -your cardiovascular system. Exercise makes the heart work harder, pump more blood, and it also reduces the risk of developing heart disease. With each beat of your heart, a surge of blood is pumped into your body's intricate web of blood vessels. The pressure exerted on your artery walls as blood passes through helps keep the blood flowing smoothly (what you know as ‘blood pressure'). A build-up of plaques in your arteries, caused by cholesterol in your bloodstream can affect your blood flow and cause serious damage to your cardiovascular system. A workout on a regular basis benefits your heart because it helps lower the build-up of plaques in arteries by increasing the concentration of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the "good" cholesterol) and decreasing the concentration of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) in your blood, while keeping the blood pressure at the optimal level.  As a result, your heart is able to do a better job in delivering oxygen to all parts of your body. Blood travels more efficiently, bringing much-needed oxygen from your lungs and nutrients to the rest of the body.  That's why you may noticed that you feel refreshed and energized after exercising. (Information source here)
2. Exercise builds muscle and strengthens bones, as well as preserves bone mass, and increases bone density. Regular resistance training can help prevent the bone-weakening disease, osteoporosis.
3. Exercise helps keep a healthy, balanced BMI (body mass index) and weight.  Once again, most people know this. It's a no-brainer if you're trying to lose weight. Calories burn the fastest and most effectively when the body is moving in some way or another, especially during vigorous exercises such as jogging, quick walking, biking, and peppy dancing.
4. Exercise helps induce better, quality sleep. Many people who have problems sleeping find doing moderate exercise at least three hours before bedtime helps in sleeping better at night. The recent Hibernation Diet Theory teaches that regular exercise could activate production of recovery hormones during sleep and increases the body's metabolic rate.
5. While the above reasons have given us enough incentive already to work out, there is yet another reason. Exercise also benefits the extremely essential lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a vital network of vessels and nodes responsible for regulating fluids, distributing proteins and filtering out poisons in the fluid between the cells. It is a protector and a defence system against infection, viruses, harmful bacteria, and disease. The three most important methods of lymphatic circulation are external massage, muscle expansion and contraction, and intense exercise. This means the more you move, the livelier it becomes. When the lymph is not overloaded, health is maintained by the lymphatic system's natural detox design. But if the lymph is running sluggish and there is too much waste, a blockage in the lymphatic system happens, leading to symptoms like chronic fatigue, water retention, eczema, allergies, arthritis, and infections.