Exercise helps us to have more energy and to be able to button our jeans. But why should we give our valuable time to it?
Exercise can help your mood.
Bill Phillips of Body for Life (bodyforlife.com) said, “Food is the most widely abused antianxiety drug in America, and exercise is the most potent and underutilized antidepressant.” Exercise releases feel-good neurotransmitters into your bloodstream, elevating your mood. It lifts depression. It also takes your focus off of your problems and gives you something different to think about. That shift in focus can be all you need to see obstacles in a new light and approach them with fresh resolve.
Exercise can help your mind.
“Exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of memory and learning,” according to Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey. Studies show that exercise works at a cellular level to reduce the toll of aging caused by stress. It helps us manufacture new brain cells and make new brain connections, facilitating learning. It fends off memory loss and helps with vocabulary-retrieval skills.
Exercise can increase your self-control and perseverance.
Even moderate exercise can help build confidence and self-esteem. Keeping a promise to yourself to exercise regularly builds self-control into your mind-set, and that discipline transfers to other areas. As you meet and exceed physical challenges, you’ll realize you’re capable of greater things than you’ve accomplished so far. Confidence to dream bigger and accomplish greater goals will continue the upward spiral.
Exercise feels good and is worth the time we give it for so many reasons that can’t be seen on the scale. How can you build it into your schedule for the coming week/month/year?
(US News and World Report, 7 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/slideshows/7-mind-blowing-benefits-of-exercise)