We all know that exercise is good for us. But few of us realise just how much of our body is positively affected by leading an active lifestyle. Here are just a few health benefits of exercise that you may not even know in case you needed that extra motivation to get off the sofa.
It improves your immune system
By exercising regularly, you may be helping to fight off bugs and flu more effectively than you would be otherwise. Exercise causes your heart to beat faster and therefore causes white blood cells and antibodies to circulate the body quicker, catching illnesses more quickly. Exercise also causes you to clear out your airways, expelling any bacteria from your lungs that might develop into an infection. On top of this, exercise is great for combating stress. Stress itself lowers our immunity by focusing bodily functions elsewhere, whilst a workout is able to reverse this process and focus function back to the immune system.
It helps your digestion
When we are active, our digestive system is also more active, breaking down food at a faster rate. This is good for preventing and combating constipation. On the opposite end of the scale, exercise can also be good for combating diarrhoea. When taken with medicine for conditions such as IBS, exercise can help flush out bad bacteria causing a leaky gut. By improving immunity, it can also prevent such bugs from taking hold in the first place.
It helps your brain
Research has found that exercise can often leave us with a clearer head afterwards allow us to concentrate more effectively. This may be because exercise clears out all old oxygen from the body and replaces it with fresh new oxygen which is essential for brain function. Studies have found that those that exercise before arriving at work are able to concentrate better.
It reverses alcohol damage
Excessively drinking alcohol is bad for almost every organ in the body. One effect is the weakened ability for the brain to communicate messages. Scientists have found by studying white matter in the brain that heavy drinkers that don’t exercise a lot have a more damaged white matter, affecting this communication. However, studies have found that those that drink a lot but also exercise a lot don’t have this brain damage showing that perhaps a workout can be the perfect antidote to alcohol.
It improves your sex life
It’s also been found that those that exercise often can have an improved sex life. Part of this is the fact that aerobic training can help increase stamina in bed. There’s also evidence to suggest that exercise gets rid of stress, which itself can kill our sex drive. As discussed earlier, stress triggers a survival mode within us which causes our body to focus on more immediate concerns rather than the likes of digestion or indeed reproduction. By exercising, you may find yourself de-stressing and developing a sex drive once more.
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