Benefits of regular physical activity
There are so many benefits of physical activity or being active physically, whether it is you hitting the gym or going for a walk or even playing some sports as hobby. As long as you are moving and keeping your heart active for at least 5 days a week, it will keep you healthier. So let’s talk about a few benefits of regular physical activity:
- It helps you in living longer
Science shows that physical activity can reduce your risk of dying early from leading causes of death, like heart disease and some cancers. This is remarkable in two ways:
Only a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your health as physical activity. People who are physically active for about 150 minutes a week have a 33% lower risk of all-cause mortality than those who are physically inactive.
You don’t have to do high amounts of activity or vigorous-intensity activity to reduce your risk of premature death. Benefits start to accumulate with any amount of moderate- or vigorous-intensity physical activity.
- Instant benefits like better sleep, less anxiety
You might have heard a lot of people saying ‘Just when I started working out/running/doing yoga etc I felt so good, my life did change for good. I sleep better, I feel less anxious and I feel more active than usual, because that’s what exercising and being regular in physical activity does for your body.
- Helps in strengthening your bones and muscles
Regular physical activity helps with arthritis and other rheumatic conditions affecting the joints. Doing 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity, if able, plus muscle-strengthening activity improves your ability to manage pain and do everyday tasks and improves quality of life.
Build strong, healthy muscles. Muscle-strengthening activities like lifting weights can help you increase or maintain your muscle mass and strength. This is important for older adults who experience reduced muscle mass and muscle strength with aging. Slowly increasing the amount of weight and number of repetitions you do as part of muscle strengthening activities will give you even more benefits, no matter your age.
- Helps in weight management
As we see the trend of technology and fitness bands people are trying to achieve their steps goals and tracks them with their smart watches and they see a change in their weight while obviously controlling on your diet, this is just a small example of what being physically active can do for you in losing weight.
