How Exercise Does More Than Make You Look good!

8 January 2016

For many people, attaining an enviable bikini body or six-pack might be high on the agenda when enrolling on one of our fitness boot camps, but research has shown that it would hardly be the only benefit of getting more active. Here are just a few other examples of how exercise can help you - none of which are limited to improving the way you look.

It can banish mental health problems, leaving you happier

Feeling down? Exercise could be the most effective anti-depressant you ever take. One study suggests that aerobic exercise could be just as effective as medication for relieving the blues. Even if you tend to feel more stressed than depressed, there is evidence that working out is an especially speedy way of reducing cortisol, the stress hormone, in your system. It's even been proved to be more effective for lowering stress than "comfort foods" like ice cream.

It can help you to live longer

This probably won't surprise you - but are you aware of to what exact extent exercise can add years to your life? Basically, even by exercising for just 150 minutes a week, which can mean 50 minutes a day for just three days of that week, you could live for up to seven years longer.

The various potential killers that regular exercising can ward off include metabolic syndrome - a combination of high levels of blood pressure/cholesterol, blood sugar, and fat around the waist. Many kinds of cancer, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease and other illnesses can also be kept at bay should you become as active as you would on one of our weight loss retreats.

It could be the answer to problems you encounter with sleeping

If you're the kind of person who often struggles to get to sleep even after having had a long and eventful day, regular exercise could be the solution. A meta-analysis of dozens of studies on sleeping has revealed that people who regularly exercised tended to not only suffer insomnia less frequently, but also enjoy higher quality sleeping.

That's crucial not to overlook, as regularly sleeping soundly can be hugely beneficial for your health - both physical and mental. Getting your forty winks can, for example, help you to repair damage to your body, boost your energy and enhance the clarity of your thinking. Exercise could therefore prove the most natural remedy for insomnia you ever take.