Benefits of Exercise

At Cargilfield we are lucky; we get outside every day, come rain or shine and enjoy hours and hours of exercise.  Not all children are as lucky as ours, and every once in a while, when the weather is perhaps not the best, or energy levels are low, we can be reluctant to exercise.  Taking a few moments to remember the benefits of regular exercise will hopefully be enough to rejuvenate us, and make us appreciate how fantastic it is to be able to exercise.

Regular exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.  It helps us both physically and mentally and is an extremely social and fun way to spend your time.  With the various restrictions we are facing with COVID, it is even more important to exercise.  

Some of the benefits of regular exercise include:

•    Making you feel happier – exercise has been shown to improve your mood and decrease feelings of depression, anxiety and stress.  Exercise can increase the production of endorphins which are known to help produce positive feelings and reduce the perception of pain.
•    It can help maintain a healthy weight – exercise is crucial to supporting a fast metabolism and burning more calories per day.  It also helps you maintain your muscle mass and weight loss.
•    It can increase your energy levels – engaging in regular physical activity can be a real energy booster and help with fatigue.
•        It can reduce your risk of chronic disease – lack of regular physical activity is a primary cause of chronic disease.  Regular exercise has been shown to improve a number of diseases.
•        It can help your brain health and memory – exercise increases your heart rate which promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain.  
•        It can help with relaxation and sleep quality – regular exercise can help you sleep better and feel more energised during the day
•        It can reduce pain – it can help relieve chronic pain and also raise pain tolerance and decrease pain perception
•        It boosts your mood and wellbeing
•        It keeps your heart healthy

Exercise offers huge benefits and possibly the most important one, gives an outlet to meet new people and make new friends.  It is one of the few things we can do at the moment so why not try and get out, go for a run or find a space to do some exercise safely in the house.