The Surprising Benefits of Exercise

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The thought of going to the gym can be daunting. Between the perfect runners on the treadmill and the muscle-heads lifting the heaviest weights in the room over, it can be intimidating. But that doesn’t mean you should give up! There are so many different kinds of exercise, all with different positive effects, which makes it easy to find the right one for you!

Cardio

Aside for the obvious benefit of burning calories and toning your body, aerobic exercises can improve the health of many of your major organs. When you’re walking to class or jamming out at Zumba, the increased blood flow to your brain can help prevent a stroke. On top of that, it improves your memory and thinking abilities – aka you should totally hit the gym before studying for your next exam.

“[Cardio] increases the oxygen flow to the brain and boosts the production of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor), a neurotransmitter responsible for promoting growth of new brains cells,” according to Malisa Nguyen, a trainer at University of Maryland's Geary F. Eppley Recreation Center.

The release of endorphins, the body chemicals that give you a natural high, will help relieve that anxiety and stress you might feel right before you sit down to write that paper you’ve been procrastinating. While endorphins can keep your energy high throughout the day, it can also help you sleep better at night. Think of this as your cup of coffee in the morning, but also your melatonin before bed.

Yoga

Despite what you may think, yoga is not all about finding your zen. Doing yoga can help cure a hangover! While, yes, you have to get up out of bed to do it, yoga detoxes your system and helps boost your metabolism. According to Bethany Grace Shaw, founder and president of YogaFit Inc., poses like ‘“shoulder stand,” “fish” and “plow” can help get blood flowing to the brain, which will make all the groggy feelings go away.

This is also a great way to exercise if you have chronic asthma. One study showed that adding yoga session to a regular exercise routine over the course of eight weeks could improve symptoms of bronchial asthma. Alongside these benefits, yoga has a host of benefits in regards to helping with multiple sclerosis and back pain. Yoga increases the spine’s flexibility and muscle functions. Also, specific kinds of yoga, like bikram and iyengar, can help those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Overall, yoga can protect you from future injury and improve your athletic performance in other areas.

Strengthening

Strength training can be anything from lifting weights to doing pushups and crunches. The obvious positive effects include gaining muscle and thus shedding fat, but it can also protect bone health too. As people age, they begin to lose some of their bone mass, but according to a 2017 study published by the “Journal of Bone and Mineral Research,” 30 minutes of high-intensity resistance training just twice a week can improve bone density and structure.

“Lifting causes bones to get stronger and more dense as they adapt to the muscles tugging on them when you perform an exercise,” affirmed Abby Mandelblatt, a personal trainer at Eppley.

Another study found that adding weight training to endurance and balance training exercises can help improve the mechanics of your body, meaning a better posture and improved coordination. So do that last rep of squats and bicep curls; it’ll boost your energy while keeping your body strong. Mandelblatt also explained that lifting can increase a person’s self-tenacity.

“As far as mental health benefits, it’s very empowering to be able to lift weights you never could before and that confidence translates outside of the weight room to life in general,” said Mandelblatt.

At the end of the day, no one can tell you what the right way to exercise is. Whether you’re looking to improve your mood, boost your energy levels or keep your body strong for years to come, you have to choose the exercise the benefits you the most and keep at it!