The 5 surprising benefits of exercise

10 July 2019

If you rarely exercise or are only just embarking on a serious fitness regime, you may have only a vague idea of why exercising is good for you. Yes, it can help you drop pounds. Yes, your body could start looking more muscular. However, it wouldn't be exaggerating to say that regular exercise can improve you both inside and out. Here are some examples of how.

Improved mental health

Once your exercising efforts have gotten seriously underway, don't be surprised if you notice that you feel perkier and can learn new things more quickly. Those are two of several mental benefits of exercise, as cited by TIME. It also looks like exercising might be the best manner of averting or delaying the emergence of Alzheimer's disease.

There's even a link between exercise and improved memory - so, if you tend to forget your other half's birthday, keep yourself out of the doghouse by keeping active instead.

Adding years to a lifespan

As many as five years could be added to your life if you regularly exercise, it has been shown. Judging from a study, your cells may not age as quickly if you engage in moderate-intensity exercise.

With this study, researchers found that, in 10 healthy people who had each ridden for 45 minutes on a stationary bike, the exercise had boosted levels of a molecule which slows the pace at which telomeres shorten. When telomeres become shorter, this is one sign of cellular ageing.

A younger appearance

Learning this might not surprise you, given the details of how exercising can extend a lifespan. However, it bears emphasis that you might not need to go overboard with the anti-ageing creams if you want to continue looking like you have been drinking from the Fountain of Youth.

Exercising results in more blood getting to the surface of the skin. As a result, collagen production is boosted and wrinkles are thwarted, Men's Health explains.

Quicker recovery from a serious illness

It was long thought that people suffering particular chronic diseases should not exercise. However, more recent research has found that, on the contrary, highly vigorous exercise can help people who have conditions including heart failure and Type 2 diabetes.

Recently, over 300 clinical trials were analysed with the result of the discovery that people who had suffered a stroke could exercise to help themselves with their rehabilitation.

For men, better erections

If you are a man, then once you have started seriously exercising, your love life could soon thank you. That's because, according to Men's Health, studies carried out by Harvard University have revealed exercise's ability to help prevent erectile dysfunction.

To be more exact, it was found that, while a 42-inch waist gives a man a 50% greater likelihood of suffering this condition than a 32-inch waist would, men who exercise for 30 minutes daily have a 41% smaller likelihood of going soft. These are great reasons for men to join a bootcamp that we run; it could help these men put bedroom woes behind them.