Whether your idea of the perfect day includes gym time, or you’d just as soon never undertake a search for “gyms around me” because your opinion on exercise isn’t especially positive, physical activity is a fact of life that wasn’t a concern for Americans back in the day everyone worked 24/7.
Fast forward to 2021. Unless you live under a rock, you know that regular physical exercise is the next best thing to ice cream — minus the calories, milk sensitivities and dairy-related issues of course. Regular exercise benefits folks of every age. It’s especially important for those who suffer ailments and conditions whose lives are better as a direct result of daily exercise.
What can regular physical activity do for you? For starters, you can keep that ice cream in your freezer – assuming you don’t plan to eat the entire carton in one sitting — say experts. According to both MedlinePlus.gov and the Mayo Clinic, folks who start regular exercise programs can reap these benefits and more:
- Exercise helps boost your spirits, minimizes depressive thinking, and contributes to overall mental health.
- Exercise can help you control and maintain your weight, so you avoid obesity-related health issues.
- Staying active and managing your blood sugar and insulin levels may help you avoid Type 2 diabetes.
- Stress reduction and higher-quality sleep are two of the most coveted benefits of regular exercise.
- Exercise may help you deal with or possibly beat an addiction like overeating or smoking.
- Your heart will thank you for taking fitness measures that have the potential to lower your risk of a variety of heart ailments.
- Your skeletal system and your muscles will also thank you since some types of exercise lower the risks of developing muscle loss and bone density. This is especially important for seniors at higher risk of falls due to balance issues.
- Regular exercise hones judgement, learning and critical thinking skills in seniors because physical activity releases chemicals that enhance brain function.
- By exercising, you pump up your immune system so you’re less likely to develop some types of cancer.
- Exercise may improve your sex life! Scientists say that exercise boosts arousal in women and may lower the risk of erectile dysfunction in men. Since exercise can also help you live longer, this is no small benefit to men and women who aim to live the fullest life possible.
Having considered all 10 of these remarkable benefits you could enjoy because of committing yourself to a program of regular exercise, you want to know where to start.
If you live in the Metro New York area, you’re in luck. There are more than 1000 facilities from which to choose and one of them is likely to be located close enough to you to make sure distance isn’t a problem.
