Doing regular exercise provides a range of extremely positive physical and mental health benefits. Often these aren’t fully appreciated until you either become really fit and healthy, or you have a major health problem.
When you understand more about the benefits of exercising, or the downsides not exercising, it can provide you with more motivation to exercise and get the best out of your exercise. This gives you a much better chance of having a healthier body and living a healthy life.
To help you with this, here are 3 health problems you can avoid with exercise, or at the least, you can minimise your chances of getting them…
Heart disease and heart attacks
Heart disease means a range of conditions that affect the structure or function of your heart. Some of the most common forms of heart disease are coronary artery disease, heart failure, heart valve disease, and arrhythmias.
For example, coronary artery disease occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries that supply blood to your heart. Blood flow to your heart can then be blocked, usually by a blood clot, and this can lead to a heart attack. It can happen at any time and is life threatening.
Exercise helps you to reduce your risk of heart disease in these ways:
- Helping you lose weight – Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for heart disease. So by exercising, burning plenty of calories, and losing weight, you can reach a healthy weight and reduce the chances of you getting heart disease
- Lowering your blood pressure – When you exercise, your heart becomes stronger and more efficient. This helps to reduce the force on your arteries and lower your blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart disease
- Improving your cholesterol levels – Exercise helps to decrease low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol, which is a major risk factor for heart disease. On the other side, exercise helps to increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol in your blood, which can help protect against heart disease
- Reducing inflammation in your body – Chronic inflammation is another risk factor for heart disease. Performing regular exercise has been shown to reduce inflammation throughout your body
- Reducing your stress – Exercise releases endorphins in your brain, which are natural mood boosting chemicals that can help reduce your stress levels. Plus, you get the satisfaction and feel good factor of completing your exercise. Less stress means you have lower risk of heart disease
Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease where a person has high levels of glucose (sugar) in their blood. This occurs when the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, which is a hormone that helps regulate your blood sugar levels – Or it occurs when the body doesn’t effectively use the insulin it produces.
With diabetes you may need long term treatment which can include lifestyle changes (such as exercise and diet improvements), medication, and monitoring of your blood sugar levels.
So it’s easy to appreciate that using exercise to help prevent diabetes is far better than waiting until you have this health problem, and then having to live with it for the rest of your life.
Ways that exercise helps you to reduce your risk of diabetes include:
- Improving your insulin sensitivity – When your body becomes resistant to insulin, it can lead to high blood sugar levels and an increased risk of developing diabetes. Regular exercise helps to improve your body’s sensitivity to insulin which can help lower your blood sugar levels and reduce your risk
- Reducing your body weight – Being overweight or obese can lead to insulin resistance and increase your risk of developing diabetes. So using exercise to lose weight and reach a healthy weight can make a real, positive difference
- Improving your cardiovascular health – Exercise can help lower your blood pressure, improve cholesterol levels, and reduce your risk of heart disease, which are all risk factors for diabetes. Your improved cardiovascular health through regular exercise is important for reducing your risk of developing diabetes
- Reducing inflammation in your body – As with heart disease, chronic inflammation is also a risk factor for diabetes, and performing regular exercise helps to keep this under control
- Reducing your stress – Stress can cause your body to release hormones which can raise blood sugar levels and increase your risk of developing diabetes. And remember that exercise is a great stress buster and mood booster, as explained in the “Heart disease and heart attacks” section above
Stroke
A stroke occurs when blood supply to your brain is disrupted or cut off. This could happen when a blood vessel in the brain is blocked (ischemic stroke), or when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures (haemorrhagic stroke). Millions of brain cells can then die within minutes.
Similar to a heart attack, a stroke can happen at any time and is life threatening. A stroke can leave you with permanent physical or mental disabilities which can badly affect you for the rest of your life.
Several of the ways that exercise helps you reduce your risk of having a stroke are similar to the ones explained in the “Heart disease and heart attacks” and “Diabetes” sections above. For example, using exercise to reach a healthy weight, improve your cardiovascular health, and lower your blood pressure, are all a great help in reducing your risk of stroke.
Also, here are two other ways that exercise reduces your risk of stroke:
- Reducing your risk of diabetes – Having one disease often gives you more chance of suffering from other health problems, such as how diabetes can damage your blood vessels which increases your risk of stroke. By exercising you reduce this risk
- Having less chance of blood clots – Regular exercise helps to improve blood flow and prevent your blood from clotting too easily. This improved circulation minimises your risk of stroke, as well as heart attack
Look after yourself with exercise
You can’t eliminate all the risk of getting these 3 health problems with exercise, but you can significantly reduce your risk.
The truth is that health problems can happen to anyone, no matter how much exercise they do, or how fit and healthy they are. However, if you exercise and keep fit and healthy, you have a MUCH less chance of suffering from these health problems, and many others.
So will you look after yourself with exercise? Will you look after your health and look after the one and only body that you have?
Many people don’t look after their health until it’s too late and often there’s no way back. They then suffer for the rest of life which is limited, wishing they had taken care of themselves earlier. Please don’t let this happen to you!
Find out how to exercise properly and safely, so that you improve your health and fitness, and minimise your risk of suffering from life destroying health problems. Join the BoostMyLife Online Program today. You will also learn how to lose weight and keep it off!
James Porter
BoostMyLife Founder
P.S. Get your FREE copy of The Top Ten Mistakes You Must Avoid When Losing Weight
