Exercising on a Regular Basis

By Lydia Willis, red belt, age 12

Do you exercise on a regular basis? If not you should. There are many different benefits of exercising daily. For example it can make you happier, exercise can help increase your energy levels, and it can also help with relaxation and sleep quality.

Exercise can make you feel a lot happier on a day to day life. It helps with depression and anxiety. When you exercise it produces many changes in the part of your brain that regulates your stress and anxiety. By exercising you increase your brain’s sensitivity and produces serotonin and norepinephrine hormones which relieve feelings of depression. Endorphins produce many happy and positive feelings. They are also produced when you exercise and they help to reduce the perception of pain. Exercising not only helps with feelings of depression, but also with feelings of anxiety.
It can help you be aware of your mental state and practice distraction from your fears. One of the most interesting parts of this is that it doesn’t matter how intense your workout is to get the benefits of extra happiness. One study had several people who were diagnosed with depression worked out daily and it showed their happiness levels increased and their depression spells decreased.

Another benefit of exercise is that it is able to increase your energy levels. Exercising can be a serious energy boost for those who do exercise daily and are healthier and for people suffering from various medical conditions. One study even found that after only six weeks of regular exercising feelings of fatigue in thirty-six healthy people who had reported persistent fatigue reduced significantly. To go even further exercise can seriously increase the energy levels of people suffering with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and other serious fatigue illnesses. Exercise is one of the best ways to counter attack CFS and his more effective than most other treatments. Even passive treatments like stretching are better than many other kinds of treatments. Finally, exercise is also really good for people with diagnosed with progressive illnesses including cancer and multiple sclerosis. The more you workout the easier it becomes to go about your daily life

The final benefit of exercise that I have is that exercising can help with relaxation and sleep. There is an energy depletion you get when exercising that stimulates a recuperative process when you’re asleep. If you workout at night the high temperature rise you experience while working out helps to cool your temperature while you sleep. One study was able to find that one hundred and fifty minutes of vigorous exercise made an improvement of sixty-five percent in sleep quality for those who participated. A different study that lasted a little bit longer explained that after sixteen weeks of physical activity increased sleep quality by a serious amount and even helped seventeen different people suffering with insomnia to sleep much better than the control group.

Exercise is important to your well being and everyone should exercise more. It helps with anxiety and depression, being wide awake during the day, and staying fast asleep at night.