100 Reasons to Exercise
You need regular exercise in order to stay healthy. It gives us strength and energy. It makes us feel good physically and emotionally. If you want specifics check out the following 100 reasons to exercise.
For Your Health
1. Reduces your risk of getting heart disease.
2. Improves the functioning of your immune system.
3. Improves the likelihood of survival from a myocardial infarction (heart attack).
4. Can help relieve the pain of tension headaches - perhaps the most common type of headache.
5. Increases the density and breaking strength of bones.
6. Helps to preserve lean body tissue.
7. Reduces the risk of developing hypertension (high blood pressure).
8. Increases the density and breaking strength of ligaments and tendons.
9. Improves coronary (heart) circulation.
10. Increases circulating levels of HDL (good) cholesterol.
11. Reduces your risk of developing type II (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes.
12. Assists in efforts to stop smoking.
13. Helps control blood pressure in people with hypertension.
14. Reduces the viscosity of your blood.
15. Reduces vulnerability to various cardiac dysrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms).
16. Increases your maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max-perhaps the best measure of your physical working capacity).
17. Slows the rate of joint degeneration in people with osteoarthritis.
18. Lowers your resting heart rate.
19. Reduces circulating levels of triglycerides.
20. Helps the body resist upper respiratory tract infections.
21. Reduces medical and healthcare expenses.
22. Helps speed recovery from chemotherapy treatments.
23. Increases ability to supply blood to the skin for cooling.
24. Increases the thickness of the cartilage in your joints.
25. Helps you to maintain your resting metabolic rate.
26. Reduces the risk of developing colon cancer.
27. Increases your tissues' responsiveness to the actions of insulin (i.e., improves tissue sensitivity for insulin) helping to better control blood sugar, particularly if you are a Type II diabetic.
28. Expands blood plasma volume.
29. Reduces the risk of developing prostate cancer.
30. Reduces the rate and severity of medical complications associated with hypertension.
31. Helps to alleviate certain menstrual symptoms.
32. Lowers your heart rate response to submaximal physical exertion.
33. Helps to reduce the amount of insulin required to control blood sugar levels in type I (insulin-dependent) diabetics.
34. Reduces your risk of having a stroke.
35. Increases your cardiac reserve.
36.Offsets some of the negative side effects of certain antihypertensive drugs.
37. Increases your stroke volume (the amount of blood the heart pumps with each beat).
38. Reduces your susceptibility for coronary thrombosis (a clot in an artery that supplies the heart with blood).
39. Reduces the risk of developing breast cancer.
40. Improves your glucose tolerance.
41. Reduces workdays missed due to illness
42. Decreases (by 20 to 30 percent) the need for antihypertensive medication, if you are hypertensive.
43. Helps to relieve and prevent "migraine headache attacks."
44. Reduces the risk of endometriosis (a common cause of infertility).
45. Helps to retard bone loss as you age, thereby reducing your risk of developing osteoporosis.
46. Improves pain tolerance and mood if you suffer from osteoarthritis.
47. Helps prevent and relieve the stresses that cause carpal tunnel syndrome.
48. Makes your heart a more efficient pump.
49. Helps to decrease left ventricular hypertrophy (a thickening of the walls of the left ventricle) in people with hypertension.
50. Improves respiratory muscle strength and muscle endurance - particularly important for asthmatics.
51. Helps to increase your overall health awareness.
52. Reduces the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.
53. Helps reduce and prevent the immediate symptoms of menopause (hot flashes, sleep disturbances, irritability) and decrease the long-term risks of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and obesity.
54. Reduces the level of abdominal obesity - a significant health-risk factor.
55. Increases the diffusion capacity of the lungs, enhancing the exchange of oxygen from your lungs to your blood.
For Your Physical Side
56. Increases your level of muscle strength.
57. Enhances sexual desire, performance, and satisfaction.
58. Helps you to lose weight - especially fat weight.
59. Improves your body's ability to use fat for energy during physical activity.
60. Helps to overcome jet lag.
61. Helps to maintain weight loss - unlike dieting, alone.
62. Helps relieve many of the common discomforts of pregnancy (backache, heartburn, constipation, etc.).
63. Increases your anaerobic threshold, allowing you to work or exercise longer at a higher level, before a significant amount of lactic acid builds up.
64. Improves ability to recover from physical exertion.
65. Gives you more energy to meet the demands of daily life, and provides you with a reserve to meet the demands of unexpected emergencies.
66. Increases your level of muscle endurance.
67. Helps you sleep easier and better.
68. Improves posture.
69. Improves athletic performance.
70. Helps to relieve constipation.
71. Helps to combat substance abuse
72. Increases your ability to adapt to cold environments.
73. Helps you maintain proper muscle balance.
74. Helps to alleviate low-back pain.
75. Helps you to burn excess calories.
76. Improves your physical appearance.
77. Helps you to relax.
78. Maintains or improves joint flexibility.
79. Protects against "creeping obesity" (the slow, but steady weight gain that occurs as you age).
80. Increases your productivity at work.
81. Reduces your likelihood of developing low-back problems.
82. Improves your balance and coordination.
83. Allows you to consume greater quantities of food and still maintain caloric balance.
84. Provides protection against injury.
85. Enhances your muscles' abilities to extract oxygen from your blood.
86. Helps decrease your appetite (a short-term effect only).
87. Improves heat tolerance.
88. Lifelong regular exercise may be protective against the development of Alzheimer's disease.
89. Helps you to maintain an independent lifestyle.
90. Improves your overall quality of life.
For Your Mental Side
91. Improves your decision-making abilities.
92. Improves mental alertness.
93. Improves mental cognition (a short-term effect only).
94. Can help improve short-term memory in older individuals.
95. Helps to boost creativity.
For Your Emotional Side
96. Reduces your anxiety level.
97. Helps you to more effectively manage stress.
98. Helps to alleviate depression.
99. Improves your self-esteem.
100. Improves your mood.
-- from "My Fitness Instructor"