Apart from physical benefits, there are plenty of mental benefits to exercise as well. For example, there is the undisputed fact that it helps to motivate you. Especially, if you are feeling low or depressed and are not motivated to do something. In that case, exercise will be of great help. Let us see for ourselves how exercise can keep us motivated:
Physical health benefits
Think about it. Who doesn’t want to lose weight and look ripped? If you are toting a few extra pounds and want to get your old college days waist back, Cardio and other exercises are the best way of achieving your goals. Not only will you look and feel younger, your friends and colleagues would notice the difference and tell you so as well. In this case, your prime motivation would be the admiring glances you will see coming your way.
Apart from that, you will also be able to observe a noticeable difference in the mirror. All of these things combined will automatically lead to a considerable difference in your appearance. That alone is a great motivation to exercise and once you make a schedule and determine that you have to follow that every day, you will be able to do the needful, by visualizing your future post-exercise self.
Mental health benefits
Many people equate exercise with physical health only. However, nothing can be further away from the truth. Exercise has tremendous mental health benefits that few people are aware of, as such. For instance, it helps to release certain hormones that make us feel a whole lot better about ourselves. These hormones lead to an uptick of your mood. If you are feeling great and upbeat, you will want to take on each day with renewed vigor and energy.
Mood booster and illness prevention
The happier you feel, the more productive you will automatically become. It is very simple really. Most common forms of depression are directly linked to very low levels of various “feel-good” chemicals that include serotonin and dopamine. If you were to exercise on a regular basis, you will automatically boost these chemicals in your body and in your mind. This, in turn, will help to alleviate your mood to a considerable extent. Research has consistently shown that the happier a person is, the more productive he or she is in the workplace. Moreover, these people have a much better attendance record than their peers who don’t exercise, as such.
There is a considerable amount of research that has been conducted on the link between exercise and health. As a matter of fact, many researchers have concluded that moderate regular, exercise steadily enhances the body’s immune system. If done correctly, it will easily help reduce the risk of developing various sorts of illnesses, specifically upper respiratory tract infections including the common cold.
Increased energy levels and alertness
Exercise can also help to improve your muscle strength and even boost your endurance levels too. In the long run, it will give you the energy you will need to stay focused, think clearly, and even come up with various brand new and innovative ideas.
This is because regular physical activity always affects energy production all the way down to the cellular level. It will give a boost to your body’s power centers in the brain. This will also help the mind to work much more efficiently. This holds true even for very short bursts of exercise. They too can help keep your mind alert and brisk. This is because exercise will help increase blood flow to the brain and thereby enable it to work much better than ever before.
Work out at home
There is no need to get an expensive gym membership. Not when you can commence working out at home with the help of Olympic bars and other vital gym equipment that you can use to work out at the one place you go to, after a hard day’s work. I.e your home. You can use these bars together with various other types of home gym equipment.
Conclusion
Exercise has various benefits both mentally and physically. It will help improve your mood and also help you to get rid of those extra pounds too.
