(Akiit.com) Exercise is a powerful tool in keeping us lean, fit and healthy. It can even be the difference between developing a life-threatening illness or not. To find out how exercise can be beneficial to your health, read on.
It Controls Your Weight
One of the most well-known health benefits of doing regular exercise is the fact that it helps you maintain and lose weight to keep you fit and healthy. When we eat we gain calories, and these calories can cause us to store fat cells in our bodies and become overweight. 
However, when we exercise we burn these calories and instead the sugar which would convert to fat is used as energy for our muscles.
To maintain your weight you can do approximately 150 minutes of medium intensity exercise each week. This will of course depend on things such as your metabolism, BMI and how much you eat in a day- but generally this is a good rule to stick to.
If you want to lose weight and keep it off you will need to do more than 150 minutes each week. It will depend on your fitness goals, but ideally you will want to be working out for 200 minutes each week or more if you have the time. Just remember to let your body rest between days when you workout so that it has chance to recover from the previous day. If you want to workout 4 times a week, do one day on and one day off.
It Reduces The Risk of Cardiovascular Disease
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the USA, however doing 150 minutes of exercise each week can significantly lower your risk of getting this disease. If you want to learn more about this you can take an acls certification or talk to medical professionals about it. Heart disease is often caused by fat buildup in the arteries which makes your heart work much harder to pump blood around the body. Exercise strengthens the heart and reduces fat.
It Reduces Your Risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome
By getting up and doing lots of exercise each week, you can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes because your blood sugar will be used to fuel your muscles and therefore won’t spike to a level where you start to form diabetic issues. It can also reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome by reducing the amount of sugar and cholesterol around the waist.
It Reduces Your Risk of Some Cancers
Being active can reduce the risk of both colon and breast cancer. There is research into whether it can also reduce the risk of lung cancer and endometrial cancer, but the studies have not been confirmed as of yet.
It Can Strengthen Your Bones and Muscles
Our bones, joints and muscles are what form the structure of our bodies, so it is imperative that we look after the as we grow into adulthood. Keeping your bones healthy can be largely down to your diet, however exercising can also benefit you in this way because it stops you from losing bone density as you age. If you start to lose bone density, it means that breakages will be much more common and they can pose a large health risk to you. Exercising can also keep your joints and muscles strong and healthy meaning that you are less likely to suffer from joint issues as you grow older.
It Can Improve Your Mental Health and Mood
Exercising regularly can also have an unexpected benefit for you health- it can make you feel happier and less likely to sink into stress-related illnesses or mental issues such as anxiety and depression. When we exercise we don’t think about anything but the movement of our bodies. The sense of achievement after doing a workout makes us feel happy and can help us get a better night’s sleep too.
Staff Writer; Doug Jones