Is Exercise Really That Important? Really?

Seeing how this is my 100th article, I guess I’d better make it a good one, so here it goes. I’m certain that everyone by now has heard that exercise should be a regular part of your weekly routine and why. Researchers have proof of how important it is because of what it does for your body systems and thus have been advocates of exercise for quite a while now.

Once you hear these things, you likely don’t want to hear them over and over again, so I won’t bore you with those, but, as researchers continue to do what they do best, they’ve actually come up with more and different reasons why regular exercise is so extremely important today more than ever before. These are fairly recent so I doubt you haven’t heard these ones before. So, without further a due, here they are:

These newly discovered benefits of exercise listed here are the result of legitimate, extensive, long term and documented research, some of which may get a bid technical, sorry.

1. People who continue to exercise well into their ripe old age live longer and stay healthier than those who stop moving and allow their muscles to waste away.

2. Exercise is a hermetic stressor (limited stress placed on your body to make yourself stronger). Therefore, exercise stimulates autophagy (the recycling of old, worn out cellular components, and a similar process called unfolded protein response (UPR). In the case of UPR, the cell degrades dysfunctional (misfolded) proteins, restoring the health of the cell. Rejuvenating the cells helps keep you young.

3. Regular exercise dramatically reduces your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. A study from 2018 showed that women who were physically fit at middle age were a whopping 90% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease even decades later.

4. Another study examined the effects of exercise on patients with early stage Alzheimer’s and found that it improved memory performance and even reduced atrophy of the hippocampus, the memory centers of the brain.

5. Exercise that uses the legs in particular stimulates brain cells keeping you alert and healthy into old age.

6. Exercise has a powerful effect on the immune system. This means that exercise causes you to produce more of the enzymes that support cellular and mitochondrial function.

7. Exercise helps prevent heart disease which can be attributed to its effects on your gut biome.

8. Exercise increases gut bacteria richness and diversity.

9. A recent report from the Harvard Medical School stated that for some adults struggling with depression, regular exercise works as well as prescription antidepressants.

See you at the gym!