Physical Exercise: The Health Benefits

Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, including strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, and merely enjoyment. it helps to promote or maintain positive self-esteem, improve mental health generally, and can augment an individual's sex appeal or body image, which has been found to be linked with higher levels of self-esteem.

The health benefits of exercise can never be underestimated.
And it's there for you to experience, regardless of your age, gender or physical ability. Here are some leading health benefits of physical exercise that could encourage you to make it part of your life:

• Prevention of developing health problems: exercising regularly can help boost the immune system as well as combat "diseases of affluence" such as cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, stroke, depression, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, arthritis and osteoporosis.

• Exercise prevents weight gain: You can maintain your weight and prevent any further weight gain. This is because when you exercise, you burn calories. If you perform intense exercise, you can burn more calories. You don't need to work out in a gym--if you do simple things like walking when you can or climbing stairs, you can burn a good amount of calories.

• Exercise can help lift your moods: If you're under stress, depressed or need to let off steam, a workout at the gym can help immensely. Exercise stimulates certain brain chemicals that keep you happy and relaxed.

• Brain function: Physical exercise has been shown to be neuroprotective in many neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases. There are several possibilities for why exercise is beneficial for the brain. Examples are as follows:

1. Increasing the blood and oxygen flow to the brain;
2. Increasing growth factors that help neurogenesis and promote synaptic plasticity — possibly improving short and long term memory.
3. Increasing chemicals in the brain that help cognition, such as dopamine, glutamate, norepinephrine, and serotonin 

Physical activity is thought to have other beneficial effects related to cognition as it increases levels of nerve growth factors, which support the survival and growth of a number of neuronal cells.
Exercising is one good way of feeling better, so go out and enjoy it. Just 30 minutes of exercise per day is enough to get you on to the fitness track and make you healthy.