The Benefits of Regular Physical Activity

Since you’ve been a little kid, everyone told you that exercise is important. We need to stay active, play sports and be strong if we want to be healthy. But, why? Did anyone ever explain why exactly regular exercise is important and why it’s not enough to just take a walk and live your life in a healthy way? Well, here are just some of the important benefits of a regular exercise, in case you need a little boost before starting up your workouts.

Easier everyday life

You might not notice it, you might think everyone has it the same and you might think it’s just the way things are. But, if you get winded after climbing three flights of stairs, if you struggle while walking uphill within the city, you can’t carry groceries or a heavier bag for any period of time or you can’t run to catch the bus – this isn’t normal, and it’s pointing to unhealthily low stamina levels. This is where sports and life intersect. You don’t need to have high stamina so you could be good at football, you need it for basic everyday tasks. You need it so that you don’t have to worry when someone invites you on a weekend hike whether you’re going to collapse half way through. Regular exercise isn’t about going to the gym and running marathons, it’s about being able to live a good life without calculating how far away an even is and whether you’re going to be able to walk that far. Having good stamina will make it so much easier to say “yes” to things you want to do in your life, because you will never have the fear of not being fit enough to do them.

Connecting with nature

Exercise should be done outside whenever possible. When people say that a few hundred years ago, people didn’t need to exercise and they were perfectly healthy – it’s because they were outside doing hard labor all the time. If you live on a farm and spend most of your days doing physical work – congrats, you don’t have to exercise! But, for most of us who live in the cities and work by sitting down, exercise is a basic way to get some fresh air into our lungs and see the outside world. When you feel like it’s too cold to go out, get some warm puffer jackets and go for a speed walk. In winter, go and have a snowball fight. In summer, go to the beach, swim and play volleyball. Exercise doesn’t have to mean hitting the gym, it can be exploring the world, hiking and finding different rails every time, going camping and kayaking.

A healthy heart

Heart failure is the leading cause of death in the world, and lack of exercise is getting you nowhere, fast. When you exercise, you are forcing your heart to work harder and pump more blood. And, just like you’re increasing your biceps by working them harder – your heart is a muscle, and it gets stronger as you exercise it. Additionally, when you exercise, your blood vessels dilate, and you get more oxygen and blood to all parts of your body. This is one that is hard to use as motivation – because you don’t see how bad it is getting while you’re young. Your heart can take the beating and it will keep pumping even if you don’t exercise at all. However, you should understand that this debt is piling up and one day it will catch up.

Higher self-confidence

It can be hard to feel good about your body when it can’t get you up some stairs or lift up a suitcase. It’s not all about looks – in fact, it shouldn’t be at all about looks. It should be about how you feel and what your body can do for you. If you know your body is strong, and fast and healthy, you will feel better about it, and better about yourself, meaning regular exercise is also good for your mental health, and not just physical.

The fact is, you simply have to talk to yourself and decide whether your health is important to you. If you think hard enough, you’ll know that it is, and that will outweigh anything you are telling yourself to get out of regular exercise, and just do it, because you know it’s important.