6 Reasons How Working Out Can Save Your Life
We all know that it’s not good for us to smoke. We know we should have a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit.
It is essential to have enough sleep every night, and not drink excess alcohol in excess.
We also know that exercise is important. It’s not just an option, either. It’s important if we want to become the best version of ourselves, and if we want to enter later life from a good starting point.
You can do a lot from home to improve your physical health, or you can go outside for a regular jog. Other people go to the gym for a work out, several times a week. They get a real buzz by the time they’ve finished, and discover it’s quite addictive. It’s even possible to build your own gym at home with these packages, where you can customize your gym to fit the dimensions of your available space. There are a number of sites you can visit for this. It can even be specifically designed for use by women only. It’s best to have either half an hour five times a week taking moderate exercise, or three times a week doing vigorous exercise. What you will be reducing is high blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol levels and abdominal fat.
This article will give you six reasons why regular exercise can actually save your life.
Heart Disease
If you looked at every death certificate in America, you’d see that this is the biggest cause of mortality. Taking exercise and working out will increase the oxygen supply to your heart, decrease the amount of oxygen it needs, help your brain, and strengthen your heart muscles. We all know people who hate exercise and live a sedentary lifestyle. They are twice as likely to have a heart attack than someone who keeps fit. If you stand on a treadmill and do two thousand steps a day, this will reduce the risk.
Cancer
This is the dreaded ‘C’ word. Whilst more people survive cancer than we probably give credit for, it is nonetheless a major killer. It takes out one in four people on the planet. Guess what halves the cancer risk for a human? You guessed it – exercise! Some cancer is totally preventable, if you have a healthy diet, don’t smoke or abuse alcohol, regularly exercise and go to regular screenings.
Strokes
Stay longer on your treadmill, and now do four thousand daily steps. You’ll be protected against strokes as well as heart attacks.
Protection
You might enjoy swimming, in addition to working out at the gym. It’s gentle on your limbs, unlike pounding your feet against the pavement on a run. Did you know? Ten people drowned today in America and another ten will drown tomorrow. If you learn how to swim and do so effectively, this will reduce your chances of having tragedy strike.
Boxing and martial arts are very popular these days, too. It literally keeps you on your toes and the excitement and adrenaline rush is massive. Learning self-defense also has its gains in your personal life. Supposing you are walking home alone one night and someone tries to attack or rob you? You’ll have better chances of escaping in one piece if you know how to defend yourself properly.
Your Immune System
If you are in poor health already and then encounter a medical challenge, that’s not a great starting point. If you regularly work out, your immune system will be literally ‘fighting fit’ before any illness strikes. Some issues begin as a cold or flu, but then escalate. If you regularly work out you’ll be less likely to catch it in the first place. In addition, you’ll recover from it twice as fast as someone who is unfit.
Extended Life Expectancy
Technically speaking, this is not so much ‘saving your life’ as extending it. The American Heart Association said that for every hour you exercise, you buy two extra hours of life. Don’t worry if you don’t discover fitness until you’re middle aged – you can still make these gains from now on. The benefits of working out regularly are huge when it comes to general wellbeing and personal energy. It’s great for our mental health too, as it changes our brain chemistry and lowers our adverse reactions to stressful situations. Many illnesses begin with stress, and you have to be holistic when discussing your health and longevity.
We are powerful people who don’t have to be at the mercy of what befalls us in life. We can take control of our own personal decisions and lifestyle, not least in the area of personal fitness. The human body is like a battery with a ‘use it or lose it’ setting. We are wise to take heed and steward our bodies well, so we can enjoy a long and full life.
