Lots of people pound the pavement or hit the gym in order to improve their cardiovascular health, build up some muscle, and to basically make their bodies better, but working out also has a few benefits above the neck. Let’s take a closer look.
Reduces Stress
If you had a tough day at the office, take a stroll or head to your gym for a quick workout. You can even stop and pick up your parents and workout while you’re waiting for them to do their silver sneakers classes. One of the most commonly seen benefits (mental) of exercise is the relief of stress. Exercising also increases your concentrations of norepinephrine, which is a chemical that can moderate the response of your brain to stress. That means it’s a good idea to go ahead and work up a sweat because your body will appreciate the stress relief while also getting a boost for its ability to deal with any existing mental tension.
Boost Your Happy Chemicals
Slogging through those miles on your treadmill can be a tough but great way to stay in shape as a mom. Exercise also releases endorphins, and these can create feelings of euphoria and happiness. It can even alleviate symptoms of depression, and for this reason, some doctors recommend exercise for people suffering from anxiety or depressions. You don’t even need to be a gym rat for this to work. Working out for a mere 30 minutes as little as 3 times each week can give your mood an instant boost.
Improve Your Self-Confidence
If you want to look and feel like a million bucks, just hop on your treadmill. On quite a basic level, exercise can boost your sense of self-worth and give you a more positive mental image. It doesn’t matter your age, gender, size, or weight, exercising can quite quickly elevate your perception of how attractive you are. How does that sound for feeling the love?
Enjoy Outdoors
For even more of that self-love, workout outdoors. Benefits of exercising while you’re outside include an increase in the self-esteem area. Find an outside workout that will fit your style, like jogging in the park, canoeing, hiking, or rock climbing. Also, all of that essential Vitamin D that you’ll soak up with the sun can lessen the symptoms of depression.
Prevent Cognitive Decline
It isn’t pleasant, but it’s true – as we age, our brains can become a bit foggy. As age, along with degenerative type diseases such as Alzheimer’s work to kill off our brain cells, your brain can actually shrink a bit, and when this happens, many critical brain functions can be lost. While a healthy diet and exercise can’t cure this, what they can do is to assist with shoring up the brain against things like the cognitive decline that can begin as early as age 45. Working out, specifically between the ages of 25 and 45, can boost those chemicals in your brain that support the hippocampus and prevent the degeneration of it.
Working out, whether in the gym or out of it, can have quite a few different positive effects – both on the body and on the mind. The positive effects on the mind will help you in more than just the swimsuit season too! Gaining a bit more self-confidence, thinking smarter, and even dragging yourself out of that funk are just a few of the motivations you might use to finally take a bit of time for exercising on a regular basis. Just keep in mind that it will only work for you if you work at it!