If cruising Netflix is your idea of exercise and you can’t get motivated to ditch the TV remote and get moving, you’re not alone. Who besides Olympic athletes and pro-football players actually want to sweat?
It’s easy to put off exercising and even easier to drop a fitness program once started. That’s because it can be hard to do something uncomfortable, like walking for 30 minutes if you’re not accustomed to it. It’s also hard to find the motivation to keep moving even if regular activity delivers something good later on—like the ability to trade a pair of voluminous sweatpants for skinny jeans.
Exercise delivers many health benefits beyond weight loss: being healthier and burning enough calories to enjoy the occasional dessert.
So it figures that the goal for most people who engage in fitness is to lose weight to look better. But there are potential long-term benefits to regular exercise that go beyond weight loss. Researchers at the University of British Columbia found that regular aerobic exercise appears to increase the size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning. Could exercise have an impact on developing dementia? Possibly.
Research from broad, population-based correlation studies also shows that exercise can help alleviate long-term depression. There’s data to suggest that active people are less depressed than inactive people. And people who were active and stopped tend to be more depressed than those who maintain or initiate an exercise program.
Here are more reasons to get moving:
| 1. Exercise boosts brainpower |
| 2. Movement melts away stress |
| 3. Exercise promotes energy |
| 4. It’s not hard to find time to exercise |
| 5. Fitness can help build relationships |
| 6. Exercise helps ward off disease |
| 7. Fitness pumps up the heart |
| 8. Exercise increases metabolism |
| 9. Exercise boosts performance |
| 10. Exercise improves your overall well-being |
Your body and mind want you to be well. It may be time to get moving and keep moving.
Learn more:
Top 10 Fitness Facts by WebMD
The Exercise Effect by Kirsten Weir, American Psychological Association
10 Reasons People Do Not Exercise by livestrong.org
Regular Exercise Changes the Brain to Improve Memory, Thinking Skills by Heidi Godman, Harvard University Health Letter
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Lifelong poetic justice license-holder. Unapologetic cat lover. A former newspaper editor and co-founder of HealthDiscovery.org, Ellen was the Director of Corporate Communications for national employee benefits broker Corporate Synergies before retiring in 2020. She developed corporate messaging, oversaw media relations, and wrote and edited articles for the company’s blog, The Knowledge Center.