Exercise or Extra fries? 3 benefits of physical activity
Updated: Feb 9, 2021
Oh, exercise how we love you, hate you, and love to hate you. From a young age, we are often told that physical activity is good for us, and it is. As we grow older, though, some of us lose track of this, and we become sedentary. Life just gets in the way sometimes, and it becomes harder to be physically active while balancing long hours at work and making sure the kids are going to ballet and karate on time. What if I told you that exercise could help with the efficiency of balancing those tasks? What if I told you that you do not have to go to the gym to get the benefits of exercise?
Intrigued? I thought you would be.
Pictured above is a table from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) outlining the benefits of physical activity. I will be breaking these points down even further as we go, but two terms need to be defined before we continue: Acute & Habitual. Acute effects reference the effects felt after a one-time session of moderate-vigorous exercise. Habitual effects reference the effects felt while completing a consistent exercise program. This table shows us that though most of the benefits are felt by creating a regular exercise habit, we can still reap some pretty quick benefits right from the beginning that can help us stay motivated.
Let's Take A Closer Look!
Cognition
Cognition is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. During exercise, specifically Aerobic exercise, your heart rate goes up, and you begin to breathe heavier. What is happening in your body at this point is your heart is pumping more blood through your body, all the while you are bringing in more oxygen because you are breathing heavier. This increase in circulation is then pumping the extra oxygen into your brain, which then creates Neurogenesis (just a fancy word for producing neurons) in parts of the brain that control memory and thinking. So, that issue you were having of remembering the kids' extracurricular schedules (or where you put those pesky car keys) might become more manageable with just the small addition of 150 minutes of aerobic exercise (that equals out to be 2.5 hours) a week.
Sleep
Who does not want better sleep? I am pretty sure we could all use some more sleep and better quality of sleep at that. For an average adult, the recommended amount of sleep is 8hrs. Regular exercise can increase the quality of sleep and even the duration of your nightly slumber. Waking up throughout the night, who? Never heard of her! Rest is also a key to healing your muscles after exercise, especially if you are doing strength work. When you are doing strength exercises, to simplify the process, you are creating micro-tears in the muscle, and when the body repairs these, the muscle becomes stronger. When does the body do most of its repairs? You guessed it while you are sleeping! The better sleep you can get, the better recovery you will experience. When your body can adequately recover, you can experience less soreness (DOMS or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), and no one likes sore muscles. It is a win-win situation!
Mood
Exercise can have an impact on your overall mood and mental health, as well. Although becoming physically active cannot make someone's depression or anxiety go away, it can help boost serotonin levels (the feel-good chemical) and aid in managing these conditions. Exercise can also be a good outlet for stress. The physical exertion can give your mind a release from those stressors and provide you with something to focus on that is not associated with the demands of your everyday life. Exercising is a good time to shut out the world and just be with yourself and get in-tuned with your body and give yourself the attention you deserve.
Closing Thoughts
As the table above suggests, these benefits are not just for adults, children can benefit from regular physical activity as well. So if you have children get them involved! Go on a family walk every evening or play soccer in the backyard, whatever you want as long as you are moving! I will be outlining some more activities in detail in the next fitness post, so keep an eye out for that if you need some creative ideas to get active.
Let me know in the comments how you like to get active! I would love to hear your ideas!
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