The many benefits of exercise

You want a weight-loss diet that strips off pounds pronto, forgetting that’s the route to regaining more weight than you lost. You want to beef up your abs and pecs, and take dangerous bulking-up supplements that claim to help. Slow and steady strength training that allows for recovery and avoids injury provides the healthiest route to good muscle tone and strength.

But there is one example of instant gratification that we heartedly recommend you go for: the benefits you get from exercise. According to the 2018 Physical Activity Guideline Advisory Committee Report, after one exercise session, you will experience lower blood pressure, better sleep, less anxiety, better insulin sensitivity, a better mood, and better concentration, memory and decision making. You get a rich reward for very little effort.

Now, imagine how you’d feel if you made it so you could gain those rewards day after day. You’d improve muscle strength and be rewarded with all the metabolic and chemical changes that help prevent disease, repair injury and increase longevity. At the same time, getting regular exercise would protect your blood vessels. And that in turn would help prevent cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke and maybe dementia. As for recovering from a stroke, exercise turns out to be more powerful a rehabilitation tool than medication!

Consistent exercise also helps prevent diabetes and improves blood sugar control for those with Type 2 diabetes. And it’s a good backstop if you get an infection. In one study of almost 50,000 people, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, those who contracted COVID-19 and were consistent exercisers were significantly less likely to end up in the hospital than those who weren’t active.

Within minutes, important changes start happening that affect your genes, immune system, blood sugar, inflammatory responses, and how your body uses stored fat for fuel. One result, according to the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University, is that lifelong exercise helps protect strength as you age by tamping down inflammation in your muscles.