Ever wonder what happens to your body when you exercise? As a personal trainer, it’s something I think about all the time. I’m continually focusing on the impact and changes various types of movement will cause within the bodies of my customers. What I like to remind people is that just because you are moving your arm or your leg, it’s not just that arm or leg that will benefit. Movement causes all sorts of things to happen in your body, and when you do it regularly, a wealth of benefits result.
What Happens to Your Body When You Exercise Regularly?
The thing I find most fascinating about what happens to your body when you exercise on a regular basis is that it’s not just one thing. In fact, it’s not just a physical thing. In fact, about a month ago, I wrote about how the right workouts can slash your anxiety in half. If you haven’t read that post, I highly recommend it (if I do say so myself).
Read: Regular Exercise Can Shrink Your Anxiety Risk by More Than Half
But what happens to your body when you exercise on a regular basis is that you kick off a spectrum of different processes. These each offer benefits including strength, balance, energy, and even happiness, among other things.
Taking a Closer Look at What Happens to Your Body When You Exercise
Take a closer look at what happens to your body when you exercise, and you’ll find that you have lots of new motivators to get you up and moving every day. I promise you’ll experience benefits you’ll feel not only at the start but especially over the longer term as you keep up this healthy habit.
Some of the things that happen to your body when you exercise include the following.
1 – You’ll Have Better Weight Control
STOP! Before you hunt me down to troll me on Twitter or Facebook (though I welcome you to follow me and share helpful comments), give me a second to explain what I mean here. Yes, I know that diet is the most important factor determining weight loss, gain, or maintenance. It is by a long shot. It has been repeatedly demonstrated to be the top factor in highly reputable medical research.
However, exercise still plays an integral role in weight control. In fact, it is often considered to be a top factor for preventing weight gain. So, if you’ve lost some pounds and want to be sure they don’t come back, keep up your great consistent workout habits!
2 – You’ll Reduce Your Risk of Health Conditions and Diseases
If you’re worried about type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or even some kinds of cancer, then you’ll love what happens to your body when you exercise. Keeping up these activities on a regular basis reduces your risk of those conditions and diseases as well as many others such as metabolic syndrome, stroke, heart attack, anxiety, depression, and arthritis among others. It also helps to reduce your risk of falls and can help boost or maintain cognitive function. On the whole, it helps to reduce your risk of death from all causes (all cause mortality).
3 – You’ll Feel Happier
One of my favorite things about what regular exercise does to the body is that it automatically boosts mood. If you feel down, like your dragging, or need to unwind after a stressful day, pour yourself into a workout – even a short one – and you’ll feel better. Usually find that at first, the grumpy feeling sticks with me, but by 10 minutes, I’m feeling better, especially if I’m pushing myself.
4 – You’ll Feel Energized
Counterintuitive, right? Burning energy makes you feel energized??? It’s true. When you work out, your heart delivers more oxygen and nutrients all over your body. That gives you a short-term energy boost. Over the long term, you’ll be improving your muscle strength and endurance and will raise your heart and lung health. These will help you have more energy overall.
5 – You’ll Sleep Better
If you’ve been struggling to get a great night of sleep because of shift work, jet lag, or a sleep schedule that isn’t consistent for another reason, a sleep aid with melatonin may be your best friend. If you have a pretty regular schedule on most days and you just find yourself lying awake unable to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night and unable to get back to sleep again, then more exercise during the daytime could be key. What happens to your body when you exercise also affects your sleeping and waking cycle. This is particularly helpful when you do something active outside during daylight.