Why Exercise Is Important, & How It Can Change Your Life?

If you think that exercise will help you live longer, you're right, but did you know that exercise can also help you live better?

We have all heard it many times: "You should exercise more, you will feel better". However, how many of us act on this piece of advice?

In this article, we will look at why exercise is so important for every person, why it feels impossible to start a workout routine, and how you can start one.

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Why is Exercise Important?

Exercise is important. The health benefits of working out regularly are numerous, from keeping chronic diseases at bay to making you feel rejuvenated. Check out some of the major health benefits of exercising:

1) Better Sleep

Aerobic workout has three major sleep benefits: it helps you fall asleep faster, spend more time in deep sleep, and wake up less during the night.

In fact, the only known way for healthy adults to increase the amount of deep sleep they get is through exercise – and deep sleep is required for the body to replenish and repair itself.

2) More Flexibility, Better Mobility

As you age, the body gradually loses the ability to move as well as it used to. If you want to slow this decline to the extent that it does not affect your life, try exercising.

By being active, older folks can maintain cardiovascular fitness, metabolism, and muscular function comparable to that of much younger people. That can also help you maintain your independence.

3) Improved Sex Life

Exercise is an excellent tool for maintaining both performance and libido. Research has shown that men who work out regularly are less likely to develop erectile dysfunction than sedentary ones. Exercising has also been shown to boost sexual arousal in women.

4) Feel Good Factor

Exercise makes you feel good. Aerobic workout stimulates the release of mood-lifting hormones, which reduces stress and improves well-being. Furthermore, the rhythmic muscle contractions that occur in practically all types of exercise might raise levels of the brain chemical serotonin, which helps battle negative feelings.

Apart from these reasons, exercise is your best bet to maintain your weight. If you wish to retain your slim figure, you must work out regularly. Read about the many other astonishing benefits of exercise here.

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Why is it so Difficult to Start Exercising?

If you didn't know all of the above motivating reasons to exercise, now you do. Chances are, though, that you knew at least some of them, yet you do not have an exercise routine. Why?

Well, the simplest way to explain that is: habit. You must have studied in school: Man is a creature of habit. There is, perhaps, no greater truth about our species than the simple fact that man is nothing but a summation of all his habits.

We all know that habits are formed - mostly - by our circumstances, or by watching people around us. Now let's assume that for some reason you do not already have a habit of exercising, you need to form this habit all by yourself. That's where the hard part begins.

When you don't work out for years, your body gets used to low physical activity. Eventually, life as a stagnant potato starts feeling normal. It becomes your comfort zone, the place where you live inside your own head. Anything that puts you out of your comfort zone feels weird.

Deviating from a habit feels weird - and this is the sole reason why habits are so difficult to form. The brain is wired to feel that way. When your body is used to not moving, it will continue wanting to not move. That's why you give up so easily, because it just feels right to continue doing what you were already doing.

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How Can You Start Exercising?

Forming a habit takes time. It's commonly believed that forming a new habit or changing an old one takes three weeks, but research indicates that it takes a minimum of six weeks to form a new habit. The technicalities of time aside, everybody knows that it does take time to form a new habit.

Why then do people still give up? They set their expectations too high, too early. You need to give yourself time, give your body time to adjust. Set low expectations when you begin exercising.

Make it as simple and enjoyable for yourself as possible. Once you've formed the habit, you can easily make your workouts more challenging.

For instance, you may start by jogging around the block 3-4 times a week. Do that for six weeks, and once you're confident of the habit, only then increase your distance.

If you want to start bodyweight workouts, you can start off by working out four times a week. Keep the number of sets at two and the number of repetitions at ten so that you're able to easily complete the workout. Initiate with simple workouts, and slowly incorporate more challenging ones into the mix.

If you need some inspiration, check out these easy workout exercises for beginners, simple full body exercises for beginners to do at home, and tons of other exercise articles right here.

To summarise, start slowly. Make it easy on yourself. Focus on habit formation, and incorporate prep activities into your established routine.