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We all know exercise is incredibly good for us. It improves our physical, social, and mental health, making day-to-day life easier and happier. But what exactly happens to our body following a workout?
We can split these changes into further sub-categories; physical and mental, and short- and long-term changes. Let’s take a look.
Short-Term
Physical
I’m sure we can all relate to the feeling our bodies go through during exercise. It’s not particularly fun or enjoyable, but absolutely necessary if we want to get fitter and healthier.
When we exercise our bodies require more oxygen than usual so we increase our breathing and blood pressure to ensure additional oxygen is delivered to our muscles.
Our muscles will start to get fatigued once we push through our stage of comfort, and we begin to sweat and go pink as our body tries to cool us down. This is completely normal. We must go through a state of discomfort to adapt to a higher fitness level.
Mental
Once you’ve recovered from your workout you will feel a sense of energy, happiness, and self-worth. Exercise causes a release of endorphins in your brain to make you feel these feelings, and act almost as a temporary high. Exercise also releases tension associated with stress.
Unwanted tension caused as a result of stress can lead to further issues such as nausea, back pain, and headaches, therefore relieving tension can help prevent other problems occurring. It’s like a different kind of massage.
Lastly, exercise acts as a break from the stress of day-to-day life. You can choose to do one of two things during a workout. One, spend some time with your thoughts and recognise and deal with them. Or two, completely switch off and think about anything but your worries. Two contradictory approaches, but also two viable approaches.
Sometimes we need to distract ourselves from our problems, and sometimes we need to take them in so we can deal with them. Exercise puts us in an optimal headspace to achieve either of these goals rationally.
Long-Term
Physical
Remember when we said we must go through a state of discomfort to adapt to a higher fitness level, this is where your hard work pays off. Consistent, regular exercise improves our cardiorespiratory system, meaning our heart and lungs don’t have to work as hard to keep us alive. As a result, our heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate lower. We also see an increase in muscle and bone density, and strengthened ligaments and tendons.
Last but not least, we see reduced body fat both internally and externally. All these factors mean you can achieve daily tasks easier, and you reduce your risk of developing a deliberating chronic disease.
Mental
Regular exercise is linked to positive effects on a range of mental conditions including anxiety, depression, stress, and ADHD. Exercise reduces inflammation and increases neural growth in the brain which can help with mild to moderate depression. It acts as an antidepressant without all the unwanted side-effects.
Top tips? ❤️
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Rosie ❤️
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