7 simple reasons why you should work out every day

We've seen our friends, loved ones, and family encouraging us to exercise every day. Doctors too have stressed upon exercising or working out daily (or at least try to), and here's why regular exercise is good for our health:

Reasons for exercising daily:

1. Exercising improves your mood, makes you feel happier 

• Need an emotional booster or want to let go of all the stress? Exercise, go for a brisk walk or a gym session, and you'll feel much better and at ease emotionally.
• Exercising stimulates various brain chemicals, helps release brain's feel good neurotransmitters called endorphins that help you feel relaxed, happier and less anxious. 
• Other feel-good hormones such as dopamine and serotonin are also released. They play a major role in regulating our mood and promote mental wellbeing.
• Serotonin helps increase happiness and alleviates depression.

2. Exercising boosts your energy levels

• Working out daily helps to do away with that feeling of fatigue- regular physical additivity helps build your endurance and muscle strength. 
• While you are exercising, nutrients and oxygen are delivered to your tissues and this supports your cardiovascular system to work more efficiently -  improves your lung and heart health, thus helping you gain more energy to tackle your every day tasks. 

3. Helps maintain a healthy weight

• You must have noticed that daily workout keeps you in shape, this in turn boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem. 
• Prevents you from excess weight gain and support you on your journey to maintain a healthy weight. 
• By exercising regularly your metabolic rate increases, this helps you burn more calories and lose weight. 

4. Exercise is good for your muscles and bone health

• Working out plays a key role in maintaining and building strong muscles and bones. 
• Regular physical activity is crucial to reduce muscle loss and encourages you to maintain strength as you age.
• It helps release hormones that increase the ability of the muscles to absorb amino acids.

5. Exercise can reduce the risk of chronic diseases 

• Type 2 Diabetes: Exercising helps control blood glucose levels, which can help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Working out is important to prevent obesity (a fundamental factor in developing type 2 diabetes). 
• Heart disease: Working out regularly increases cardiovascular fitness, reduces cardiovascular risk or coronary heart diseases, stroke, heart attack.
• Cancers: Being physically fit helps reduce the risk of the following cancers: breast, lung, colon, endometrial cancers, kidney, liver, ovarian cancer, pancreatic, prostate, gastric, thyroid and esophageal cancer. 
• Cholesterol: Regular physical activity can help regular cholesterol levels, working out increases HDL (good cholesterol) while keeping in check or reducing LDL (bad cholesterol). 

6. Exercise improves your brain health and memory

• Exercise improves brain function, protect memory and thinking skill. (You might want to start exercising now!)
• It reduces the chances of developing conditions like Alzheimer's and dementia.
• Research has shown that in older adults, exercising daily impacts their hippocampus (the part of the brain that is crucial for memory and learning), this part of the brain grows in size which improves mental function. 
• Physical movement promotes cardiovascular health, thereby improving the blood flow in the brain and reducing inflammation. Also facilitates the production of hormones that support growth of brain cells. 

7. Promotes better sleep quality

• After an intense workout session, all that tiredness definitely helps to put you in deep sleep! (and you fall asleep much faster).
• While exercising, your body temperature increases and this improves sleep quality by aiding body temperature drop during sleep. 
• Aerobic exercise improves sleep quality. 

Here's what experts have to say about the benefits of exercising regularly:

Dr Vineet Maheshwari, MBBS, MS (Orthopaedics) and Fellow in Arthroscopy & Sports Medicine based in Guwahati told dailyO that daily exercise helps increase bone density. For example running, resistance training and jumping helps stimulate the growth of new bone tissue which increases bone density.

• "Exercising reduces the risk of Osteoporosis. It's basically a condition where bones become weak and brittle. Exercising helps prevent this by maintaing bone strength," he said.
• Dr Maheshwari said that 2orking out regularly is good for joint flexibility and that "stretching and yoga enhances joint flexibility and reduces the risk of injuries."
• "Physical workout is important as it improves your balance and coordination which reduces the risk of fractures and falls," he said

If you don't exercise already, are these reasons enough for you to start exercising every day? (it's never too late!)

Exercising may include anything from hitting the gym every day to trying to squeeze in a a bit a physical workout such as climbing stairs. The key is to have some sort of physical movement daily. 

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