Is fitness overhyped? Examining exercise's role in wellness.

We scarcely need to go online anymore to hear about the supposed benefits of exercise. Exercise, exercise, exercise they say; but is it really as important or helpful as people claim it is?

Well, if there was something that could help you fight off things like mood swings, diseases like Alzheimer's and Dementia and disorders like depression, then it's exercise. It has similar effects as medication, without the side effects.

Physically, regular exercise has an expansive range of benefits:

• Decreases blood pressure
• Increases strength of the heart and lungs
• Increases slow wave sleep
• Decreases risk of cardiovascular disease
• Decreases risk of some cancers
• Improves immune system functioning
• Can reduce risk of type II diabetes
• Improves capacity for physical work
• Helps maintain muscle tone and strength

In short, exercise can help you live a longer, better life.

Exercise can also help you socially. If exercising is a team or partnered activity, it can improve feelings of belongingness and social activity. Joining a gym, class or even an online fitness community on YouTube or Discord can foster a feeling of involvement with the exercise and with others and may boost one’s mood.

Think about it- you probably find yourself counting the seconds less when you're with someone else and are enjoying their company while exercising! It's practical to exercise, too. Studies have shown that regular exercise can reduce health care costs, absenteeism at work and improve job satisfaction, which improve one's long term satisfaction.

You may find yourself feeling much better after a single workout session! Exercising is known to have immediate short term as well as lasting long term effects, and that's one of the reasons why it's so highly recommended. When you exercise, your brain releases chemicals like dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, whose main function is to make you feel good and happy. Your muscles may be sore and that workout may have been brutal, but it's actually good for you!

If you've been looking for ways to improve your concentration and focus, exercising can help with that too. It's widely known to improve functioning in the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain, which is responsible for attention and concentration. You're sharper and even your reaction time is much better!

Exercise can also affect other parts of your brain that are responsible for memory, like the hippocampus and information processing. It is especially important for the elderly. As we age, exercise helps to slow cognitive degeneration, and improves older adults’ brain functioning in areas like planning, inhibition and multi-tasking. Simply put, exercise can help to alter your brain’s structure and functioning, and help you to think better, make connections faster and focus more. Some studies have even shown that higher rates of exercise or physical activity is associated with a lower level of depression.

It’s also a proven way of managing stress. It can be a way of releasing pent up stress and energy and channeling that into a physical outlet that is beneficial for the body. Studies have shown that higher levels of exercise aid in resistance to stress, and that the negative impact of stressful life events declines as exercise levels increase. It also acts as a buffer in your immune system. When a person is very highly stressed, excessive levels of cortisol, (the stress hormone) are released, which negatively impact the cells of the immune system. Exercising regularly on the other hand, has a beneficial impact on the immune system; there is an increase in naturally secreted pain inhibitors called endogenous opioids.

How much and what kind of exercise?

The recommended amount of exercise for a healthy adult is usually at least 30 minutes of (at least) moderate intensity activity 5 times a week and 20 minutes or more of vigorous activity at least 3 days a week. The benefits mentioned above have been researched as a result of aerobic exercise, which is any sustained exercise, marked by high intensity, long duration and endurance, like rope jumping, swimming, jogging or bicycling. Aerobic exercise that uses 70-85% of your maximum heart rate, repeated many times a week and done over the long-term seems to produce most benefits.

Some studies have also researched the effects of Resistance Exercise, which involves exercising muscles with some form of external resistance, such as heavy weights or bands. It can be an effective way to increase muscle strength, volume, and endurance and delay muscle degeneration. These studies have shown that it can also help to alleviate anxiety, inferiority and bad moods.

So, if there are so many benefits to exercise, why do so many people swear off it? One of the major reasons is simply lack of time- many people who work the entire day feel too exhausted to get themselves to the gym or complete a workout. Similarly, adolescents who no longer have mandatory PE classes exercise less than before. Others sometimes start but find it difficult to continue working out because they lack motivation. Other reasons include picking an unsuitable workout programme that demands much more than one's current fitness levels, resulting in an inability to perform.

Here are a few ways to actually start exercising:

• Surround yourself with those who motivate you. This will help to cultivate a positive attitude towards physical activity, which is a proven factor in determining who is most likely to exercise.
• Watch how you view yourself. Something as simple as viewing oneself as athletic or as someone who exercises or likes doing so, can actually help you exercise. On the other hand, if you tell yourself exercise just “isn't for you” or you're simply not meant for it, you'll find yourself much less likely to actually exercise. A sense of self-efficacy, feeling like one is in control of the outcome of our actions, can predict who is likely to exercise.

• In the beginning, set external motivators. If you find yourself lacking motivation, it's okay to give yourself rewards for each successful workout session. Watching your favourite TV show, an outing or even a nap!

• When it's time to exercise, put on your shoes or exercising outfit or pick up the exercising equipment. This will help you actually go through with it.

• Find a community! Having other people around will help keep you accountable and you'll actually enjoy your time with them.

• Try to find a form of exercise you enjoy. Maybe you absolutely detest jogging, you could always try rope jumping instead! If you actually like the activity and can think of new, innovative things to incorporate into it, it’ll stay interesting and relevant to you! Find what works for you.
• Try healthier alternatives. Take the stairs more, go for that walk and in your free time, get your body moving in any way you can whether it's a little dance session or a quick walk around the building.

The key to it is intrinsic motivation, which is the act of doing something even in the absence of an external reward.  When you do the physical activity just because you enjoy doing it, you're more likely to maintain that action. Simple enjoyment of that action becomes an end in itself. Understanding the importance of maintaining a healthy body and a healthy mind will lead to action. It's important to exercise for the right reasons, and to have the right kind of motivation- an understanding of how impactful exercise can be beyond just the external looks of one's body.

All this is not to say that exercise is a miracle and can cure anything, but it does indeed seem to reap a whole bunch of benefits, and although most things in life do not have a 100% guarantee, it can be a way of helping ourselves and giving ourselves the chance at a fuller, longer and rich life.