What is Exercise? 16 Benefits, 4 Types, and 7 Risks Associated with Exercise
If you want to feel better, have more energy, and even add extra years to your life, just exercise.
Exercise is a physical activity that enhances physical fitness and maintains overall health and wellness.
There are so many types of exercises, such as walking, running, swimming, cycle cling, fitness classes, dancing, sports, using aerobic exercise machines, and so on.
What you are going to learn?
Benefits of Doing Regular Exercise:
The benefits of proper exercise and physical activities are very hard to ignore. Everyone can get benefits from exercise, regardless of sex, physical ability, and sex.
Check out these sixteen ways exercise can lead to a happier and healthier you;
1. Increased Dopamine in the brain:
Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that is related to feelings of pleasure & happiness. Exercise is the best way to boost your brain’s dopamine production, giving you much-needed mood improvement.
2. Lower Anxiety & Depression:
Recent studies have revealed that people who suffer from anxiety and depression can get long-term relief from exercising and its mood-boosting benefits.
3. Energy Booster:
Ever have a really great workout and then feel even more energetic after you were done? That’s because exercise is a great energy booster, and more energy means more happiness.
4. Stress Reducer:
Exercise is a form of low-level stress itself, and the more you subject yourself to the “stress” of working out, the better your body will adjust to handle other kinds of stress.
5. Slow Down Cognitive Decline:
Unfortunately, the older we get, the more functions of our brains become less capable. Studies have shown that daily exercise can help delay cognitive decline, aiding memory and learning.
6. More Self-confidence:
There’s nothing quite like having an awesome workout and then feeling a great sense of achievement. Exercising increases your confidence by noticing your body transforming for the better.
7. Be More Social:
While all kinds of exercise are great for us, working out in groups is even more useful. Studies have shown that people do better on aerobic tests when working out with a friend or a partner, and working out and being around our friends generally make us happier bunch.
8. Get Better Sleep:
Having sleep problems? Regular exercise can improve the sleep quality of people with sleeping disorders, and we all know that better sleep equals a much happier you.
9. Be More Creative:
We are all in a better mood when we do something creative, and nothing can boost creativity more than a great workout.
10. A More Productive you:
A study showed that people who exercise regularly are more productive at work than those who don’t, and when you’re doing well on the job, you naturally become a happier person too.
11. Memory Booster:
Various research has found a link between exercise and increased memory capabilities, so get in a great workout and start recalling those happy memories with even more clarity.
12. Be More Relaxed:
We know that exercise can help you sleep better, and also let you unwind after a hard day, and helps you to be more relaxed.
13. Better Coping Skills:
When we face difficulties in our life, some people start consuming drugs and alcohol, while others start exercising. It can help you deal with your problems in a healthy & happy way.
14. Gets Addiction Under Control:
It’s been studied that exercise can help in addiction recovery, and can distract people from taking drugs or alcohol.
15: Enjoy the Great Outdoors:
Who wouldn’t enjoy a run among nature’s beauty as opposed to on a treadmill in a gym? Studies have shown that exercising in outdoors can improve your self-esteem even more.
16. Increase Your Brain Power:
It’s been shown that getting in some good cardio can help to produce new brain cells and enhance your overall brain performance.
Types of Exercise:
Exercise is for improving strength, resistance, flexibility, fitness, and cardiovascular conditions. Here discussed mainly 4 types of exercises;
1. Preparation or Warm-up:
Before starting comparatively heavy exercise, a proper warm-up is required to help prevent the possibility of injury resulting from tight muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons.
Some warm-up exercise includes stretching, jogging, light calisthenics, etc.
2. Cardiovascular Conditioning:
This involves moderate to advanced physical activity that results in an increased heart rate for a sustained time period. Regular cardiovascular exercise enhances the functioning of the heart, circulatory system, and lungs. Aerobic exercise within a target heart rate range calculated based on a maximum heart rate by age is recommended for adults. Cardiovascular exercise that elevates the heart rate to not greater than the heart rate of 200 beats per minute is recommended for children.
Examples of cardiovascular exercise include running, swimming, jumping rope, dancing, football, basketball, cycle riding, brisk walking, etc.
3. Strength and Resistance Exercise:
Strength and resistance exercises increase muscle mass and strength, metabolism, and bone strength. Strength exercises can be performed with or without any equipment.
Strength or resistance exercise equipments include dumbbells, elastic bands, nautilus, cybex, etc. If you have no such equipments, you can just do pushups, abdominal crunches, and squats.
Children over the age of 6 can take part in strength exercises with weights only 20 minutes and 3 times a week under supervision by a fitness professional.
4. Flexibility Exercise:
Flexibility exercises are important for reducing muscle strains and maintain joint motion. Mostly young children are more flexible. As they grow, gradually their flexibility reduces with age. Flexibility is important for those who involve in competitive sports and running. As children age, they should be encouraged to continue doing flexibility exercises like yoga and various types of stretching.
Risks During Exercise Sessions:
Besides benefits, there are some risks too.
Leads to Muscle Pain:
Inappropriate warm-up, unrecommended use of weights, and overextension without time between exercise sessions to recuperate can lead to muscle strains, and it can cause inactivity due to muscle pain.
Risk of Developing Asthma:
Some children and teenaged may be sensitive to exercise-induced asthma.
Risk of Developing Stress Fractures:
Teenagers and people with weak bones or osteoporosis who perform high-impact physical activities (long-distance running, high jump, long jump, etc.) can develop stress fractures. It is a tiny crack in a bone.
Risk of Dehydration:
During longer activities that involve sweating, there is a chance of dehydration. So drink enough water after a set of exercises to ignore dehydration.
Risk of Happening Cardiac Event:
People with heart disease are most at risk of suffering a cardiac affair during exercise. People who have hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and smoking addiction are at high risk for exercise-induced cardiac events.
Orthopedic Injuries:
People who are taking medicines for kidney diseases can develop orthopedic injuries with exercise.
Leads to Hormonal Dysfunction:
Over-exercise can lead to hormonal dysfunction. Mainly testosterone in men and progesterone in women are affected due to heavy exercise. It can cause emotional lability, lack of concentration, depression, and sleep disorders.
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