Importance of Regular Exercise for All Ages
Exercise helps maintain physical wellbeing. Exercise improves cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure, decreases fat and sugar consumption and strengthens bones and muscles.
Every individual should engage in some form of physical activity every week, including adults who should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and 2 days of muscle strengthening activities each week.
Strengthens Muscles
Exercise increases muscle fiber size and strengthens muscles, ligaments and tendons while burning fat and improving endurance.
Physical activity refers to any activity that uses the skeletal muscles, such as walking, swimming, cycling or attending a fitness class. To maximize health benefits from physical activity for adults, they need 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week and 75 minutes of vigorous activities (i.e. moderate aerobic + vigorous).
Muscular strength training involves lifting weights or working against resistance with your own bodyweight, such as pushing up from a chair, climbing stairs or using resistance bands. To reap its health benefits from muscular strength training, adults should perform one set of exercises targeting each major muscle group on two or more days per week; doing this improves fitness levels overall and can even help maintain a healthy weight.
Decreases Heart Disease
Exercise routine can play an integral part in maintaining a healthy heart. Exercise will strengthen muscle tone and deliver oxygenated blood more efficiently to working muscles, thus decreasing risk for first cardiac episodes as well as potentially reversing certain risk factors.
Studies have demonstrated that cardiovascular disease drops with increasing amounts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, though at what level these benefits start to diminish.
If you are new to exercise, it is recommended that you begin gradually and build up to an exercise regime that suits you safely. Cardio exercises like jogging or swimming as well as resistance training (light weight lifting) may all benefit your health while decreasing healthcare costs – something especially relevant for older adults with chronic illnesses like heart disease.
Decreases Cancer Risk
Researchers from Newcastle and York St John Universities conducted an observational study and determined that those with higher fitness levels have a reduced risk of cancer. While no causal connection was investigated by this observational research study, increased physical activity may reduce DNA damage caused by inflammation while increasing insulin sensitivity.
Up to one hour of moderate intensity daily exercise – such as brisk walking, lawn mowing, or medium-paced swimming – has been found to lower cancer risks significantly. Many biological mechanisms link physical activity with cancer prevention: changes in sex hormones, metabolic hormones, bowel motility/inflammation/motility/energy balance/immune function/antioxidant defence etc. Furthermore, increased ventilation/perfusion may reduce concentrations and durations of carcinogen-airway interaction, contributing further to cancer risk reduction.
Decreases Mental Health Issues
Of course, exercise has long been recognized for its physical benefits; now researchers are discovering its psychological advantages too. Exercise has shown to significantly alleviate or even prevent mental health conditions like depression and anxiety – medication may work, but can have side effects while talk therapy takes too much time and money.
Regular exercise has been proven to decrease the number of days with poor mental health, boost self-esteem and enhance mood. Furthermore, exercise reduces stress levels while improving thinking by helping your brain communicate more efficiently with other parts of the body.
Exercise for kids can have additional advantages; active play counts as physical activity. Running around at recess, walking to and from school or taking dance lessons all count towards physical fitness and are excellent forms of physical exercise.
Decreases Injuries
One of the primary advantages of staying physically active is that exercise can help decrease injuries and illnesses. Not only will regular physical activity enhance circulation of white blood cells that fight diseases, but it will also strengthen your immune system so you can heal more quickly from illness or injury compared to being inactive.
The Cochrane Database of System Reviews shows that exercising regularly lowers the rate of falls among community-dwelling older adults over 65. Falls are one of the leading causes of injury among this demographic and can lead to loss of confidence and decreased quality of life for these vulnerable individuals.
Exercise increases its benefits with increasing time and intensity of physical activity. To reap its maximum rewards, start gradually and gradually build up to the recommended level of daily physical activity.
