Yogi Berra said that “Baseball is ninety percent physical and the other half is mental.” Any exercise program is ninety percent mental. Doing it because you ‘have to’ is much harder than doing it because you ‘want to’ – or because you ‘love it.’ Additionally, people keep up an exercise program when they know why they are doing it. Exercise has been shown to affect your health as follows:
● Controls weight and fat
● Improves blood flow
● Strengthens the heart
● Lowers blood pressure
● Increases heart working capacity
● Raises HDL cholesterol
● Prevents diabetes
● Improves insulin sensitivity
● Improves muscle tone and strength
● Improves flexibility
● Improves balance
● Improves endurance
● Improves posture
● Encourages bone formation
● May prevent bone loss as we age
● Improves frame of mind, disposition and humor
● Reduces stress, depression and anxiety
● Improves basal metabolic rate
● Increases life expectancy
● Improves telomere length
● Increases human growth hormone
● Increases oxygen to the body and brain
Vigorous exercise increases telomere length which extends your lifespan. Near-maximum intensity exercise increases HGH levels which also extends your lifespan. There are several studies that indicate spending one-hour exercising increases your life by seven hours. How good are these studies? Are they just exercise geeks trying to get more people exercising – for fun or pay?
We should exercise twenty to thirty minutes a day for at least five days a week according to health professionals. That is one hundred to one hundred-fifty minutes of exercise every week. I believe you will live longer because of exercising, but I cannot quantify it as closely as stated above. Your quality of life will be better due to the exercise you do regularly.