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Article Date: 10th February 2017
Lack of any physical activity or in other words being a “couch potato” is quite widely recognised as a leading risk factor for all kinds of ailments ranging from diabetes to obesity to high blood pressure. These were all considered ‘adult’ illnesses that are now increasingly becoming common amongst not just teens but even children.
As kids grow older and moreover, if they have never maintained healthy exercise as part of their lifestyle and what’s more don’t even believe in starting and/or maintaining an exercise regimen, they just might end up being at a higher risk from such deadly diseases later on in life, if not sooner.
However, protection from blood pressure related illnesses later on in life is not the only advantage of exercise. There are many other additional benefits as well.
Obesity (being very overweight) is increasingly becoming the curse of the 21st century and our sedentary (sitting around instead of being physically active) lifestyles contribute to it no end. Most kinds of physical activity play a key role in not only getting rid of excess weight but also greatly help in keeping it off as well.
In a nutshell, we gain weight when the body consumes less calories then it takes in. Conversely, it is lost when we consume less and burn more as the body uses its stores of fat to keep itself fully energised. This is why, plenty of exercise (taken along with a healthy diet) creates a new ‘set point’ for the body and enables it to not just lose weight but successfully keep it off as well.
Regular exercise (provided it’s something you like doing on an everyday basis) can not only improve your mood but may help control the stress of your everyday life while combating both depression as well as anxiety.
Continuous physical activity that is maintained regularly tones up your muscles while simultaneously increasing both your endurance as well as your stamina. This is because regularly playing games and sports increases the oxygen supply to different organs and in effect ‘turbo-charge’ your body meaning that you have more energy to successfully accomplish your everyday tasks.
Any kind of physical activity, be it swimming, walking, martial arts or lifting weights, builds the endurance of the muscle groups being exercised and in the long run it increases your overall strength, thereby helping you make any team you want.
Once exercise becomes habitual to your lifestyle, you may find that you are able to sleep a whole lot better than you ever used to before. However, a point to be noted is that such exercise should not be undertaken too close to your daily sleeping time or the energy released may actually make deep sleep more difficult.
A lack of exercise is widely considered to be one of the contributing causes of constipation. Physical exercise along with many other factors, such as drinking more water and fibrous food may help you get rid of constipation, once and for all.