Weight Watchers Get Healthy Freestyle Journey – Week 12
Health Benefits of Exercise
It’s time once again to reflect on the past week. Recently, we looked at milestones, how to stay motivated, the smart use of free foods, some tactics for dining out, surviving the holidays while dieting, the benefits of a 5% weight loss and diabetes. Each week as I’ve explored these topics and shared them with you I’ve gained new skills to be successful on my WW Freestyle journey. This week I am looking at understanding both the physical and mental health benefits of being active. The first thing I want to do is define what exercise is. Exercise is any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories. There are many types of physical activity, aka. exercise, including swimming, cycling, running, jogging, walking, basketball, and dancing, are some just to name a few. Being active has been shown to have many health benefits, both physically and mentally, and may even help you live longer.
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Health Benefits of Exercise
How much should the average adult exercise every day?
For most healthy adults, the Department of Health and Human Services recommends that you get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as brisk walking, swimming and mowing the lawn OR 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, like running and dancing. The CDC also recommends that you do strength training exercises for all major muscle groups at least two times a week. I know, this sounds like a lot! Especially, for those of us who have been leading a sedentary lifestyle. The good news is we don’t have to do the two and a half hours at one time. As long as we’re doing physical activity at a moderate or vigorous effort for at least 10 minutes at a time we can spread it throughout the week.
Regular exercise is one of the best things we can do for our health. The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Everyone benefits from exercise, regardless of age, sex, or physical ability.
According to healthline.com the top 10 benefits regular exercise has on your body and brain are
- It Can Make You Feel Happier. – Exercising regularly can improve your mood and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression.
- It Can Help With Weight Loss. – Exercise is crucial to supporting a fast metabolism and burning more calories per day. It also helps you maintain your muscle mass and weight loss.
- It Is Good for Your Muscles and Bones. – Physical activity helps you build muscles and strong bones. It may also help prevent osteoporosis.
- It Can Increase Your Energy Levels. – Engaging in regular physical activity can increase your energy levels. This is true even in people with persistent fatigue and those suffering from serious illnesses.
- It Can Reduce Your Risk of Chronic Disease. – Daily physical activity is essential to maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of chronic disease.
- It Can Help Skin Health. – Moderate exercise can provide antioxidant protection and promote blood flow, which can protect your skin and delay signs of aging.
- It Can Help Your Brain Health and Memory. – Regular exercise improves blood flow to the brain and helps brain health and memory. Among older adults, it can help protect mental function.
- It Can Help With Relaxation and Sleep Quality. – Regular physical activity, regardless of whether it is aerobic or a combination of aerobic and resistance training, can help you sleep better and feel more energized during the day.
- It Can Reduce Pain. – Exercise has favorable effects on the pain that’s associated with various conditions. It can also increase pain tolerance.
- It Can Promote a Better Sex Life. – Exercise can help improve sexual desire, function, and performance in men and women. It can also help decrease the risk of erectile dysfunction in men.
Make exercise a part of your regular routine
You can make your everyday activities more active by making just a few changes in your daily routine. Some great ways to raise your activity level is by taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking down the hall to a coworker’s office instead of phoning or sending an email, standing and stretching during TV commercials, and parking further away from the entrance when shopping. Chores such as house cleaning, washing the car, mowing the lawn, raking leaves, and gardening also count.
Be Active at Any Size
Physical activity may seem hard if you’re overweight. Choosing physical activities that match your fitness level and health goals can help you stay motivated and keep you from getting hurt. You may get short of breath or tired quickly and may not feel comfortable working out in front of others. Start with 10 minutes of activity 3 days per week of any moderate-intensity activity that you enjoy. As you gain more strength and endurance, you can build up to the recommended 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. Once you achieve that goal, if you do even more activity, you may gain even more health benefits.
Mental Health Benefits.
Exercise releases endorphins, which create feelings of happiness and euphoria. It is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning.
Working out, especially between age 25 and 45, boosts the chemicals in the brain that support and prevent degeneration of the hippocampus, an important part of the brain for memory and learning. While exercise and a healthy diet can’t “cure” Alzheimer’s, it may help improve memory and thinking in people with mild cognitive impairment, which often begins after age 45.
? SELF LOVE ?
Regardless of weight, size, gender, or age, exercise can quickly elevate your perception of your own attractiveness.
Create a plan that sets a specific day, time, and place to exercise.
How my freestyle weight loss week went:
Monday was spent working on the blog and cleaning house. After that this week was a busy one with appointments that kept me on the road all day every day. Since I have big plans for my future me, I put down the chocolate bunneyettes (remember they showed up last week) and picked up a rake and shovel every chance I got. With all the appointments and gardening, the week seemed to fly by and before I knew it was Sunday evening and the moment of truth was here. After eating several fast food meals on the go and my slip up with the chocolate this week, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got on the scale for my weekly weigh-in. I was pleased to find that I had lost 3/4 of a pound! Not a big number as it isn’t even a whole pound but I told myself that at least I’m still heading in the right direction. Until next week… Remember to stay positive and keep looking forward.
Where are you?
Where are you on your journey? What is your favorite exercise? What is the biggest reason you exercise?
Share your thoughts below or on my Facebook fan page.
I am not a medical professional. The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.
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Well i guess that I need to get moving more. Thanks for the article.
I do try to get moving frequently and I can tell when I haven’t been moving enough.
I love that they have come out with a more freestyle way to do weight watchers. Exercise is definitely just as important as what you put in your body.
I use a wheelchair but I still try to exercise everyday doing what I can. I will loose weight eventually. It just takes me a lot longer than most people.
I teach health courses and I like how you put this together. And love the pics you chose! I may use those in my lecture 😉
These are all really great tips! I know ever since I have had my son I definitely need to get back into the habit of exercising! Even just 30 minutes a day would do the trick, and really that’s not that hard, just have to find the motivation to do it, like you said!
These are all great tips. Everyone should focus on ones health. Its should be like breathing, feeding and all the usual daily works.
I love Weight Watchers, and need to get back to them. I totally agree that exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand.
LOVE the cute little cartoon! It’s so true, exercise is so very beneficial but so dang hard to stay committed to!
I try and exercise regularly but it goes for a toss when I am traveling. Your post is a great motivator for me to be more disciplined.
These are all such great tips to getting healthy! Exercise is so important.
The importance of physical activity can’t be stressed enough. We have to keep moving! Even if it means just mopping and cleaning the house everyday (which is my life by the way) ?. Thank you for this reminder.
This is a great post. Sticking to a workout regimen can be hard at first.but once you get started it is great! Thank you for the motivation!!
Having a routine of exercise and consistency help us to have a better healthy life
Many has been said about exercise and its benefits and yet some are still not considering it to be part of their lifestyle, me included. I beleibe we need discipline already.
Many has been said about exercise and yet a few are stils not considering it as a nice option. Me included. I believe all i need now is discipline.
Now this sounds like my kind of program! Staying healthy and keeping my family healthy is at the forefront of my mind.
I love starting my day off with either yoga or zumba. I’m not the biggest fan of going to the gym but staying active is so important.
The hardest part in my opinion is motivation. I think everyone knows that working out is really good for our body and mind, but we don’t always have the motivation to actually do it on a daily basis.
I’ve got to get in the habit of exercising again. I know I’d benefit from it and I’d love to lose some weight.
I know there are so many health benefits to exercising but how do you find the time??? I’m a full time working mom of a two year old. I am needing to wake up early. I love doing yoga!! I just need some motivation.
I am working on fitting exercise into my daily routine. I’ll be sharing tips about what I learn really soon.
I’ve found that going for a walk every day will help keep me active and clear my mind. Even starting small can go a long way to establishing a routine that works, which I think is the hardest part for most people! The health benefits are enormous! Keep up the good work!
It is so hard to get in a workout regimen, but once you do it’s awful when you miss a work out! Thank you for pointing out the health benefits, to keep me motivated!
This is a great post, there are so many health benefits to exercising! I have Rheumatoid Arthritis so I feel particularly awful if I do not stay active.