10 Reasons Why You Should Exercise Regularly

We are all well aware of physical benefits of exercising regularly and doing sports on a regular basis. It helps us lose weight, develop our muscles, release anxiety and simply feel better. But there are more to sports and exercise than just physical benefits.

Regular physical activity has many positive effects on our mind as well. It soothes both body and soul and helps us grow mentally and develop certain knowledge about ourselves. If you are not convinced enough, here are some reasons why you should never skip the exercise.

10 Ways that Fitness and Sports Makes You Feel Better About Life

1. Anxiety release

It’s not a secret, we all experience anxiety from time to time. Depending on the type of personality and life circumstances, some people are having a hard time dealing with stressful situations. This can result in having anxiety attacks almost every day. It has been scientifically proven that playing sports will immediately release you from the feeling of anxiety and help you relax. Physical activity is a boost to releasing many happy hormones in our organism, which is resulting in relaxation and loss of anxiety.

Additional Reading: the Best Exercises to Reduce Anxiety

2. Confidence boost

Whether you have a weight problem or not, most people have something they would like to change about their physical appearance. Some want to lift their bottoms, other want to shape up their thighs, while someone else wants to lose the holiday belly. Exercise can help us all deal with our physical insecurities and make our confidence boost. It also boosts your confidence knowing that you are great at some sport, like basketball or tennis. It is great knowing you are good at stuff and this adds to your confidence as well.

3. Learn leadership

Dealing with unexpected circumstances in life is something we must accept and try to learn how to handle. When you are playing sports, all sorts of unexpected situations may occur. It is in those moments that we realize if there is a leader inside of us or not. Are we calm or are we losing our grip?

This can also change and build in time, so don’t worry if you aren’t a born leader. After all, whether you are a leader or a follower, we are all playing for the same team in sports. In life, well, it’s a little bit different.

4. Team player

So, teams have leaders, yes. But those leaders must always think what’s the best for the team, as well as for the other players. Being a team player means knowing people you play with, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Don’t use your strength against the others, and don’t use others weaknesses against them either. The point of the team is covering for each other and helping each other when needed. It is giving and receiving constructive criticism without bad feelings. Once you realize that, you are going to become a true team player.

5. Fair play

Fair play isn’t just obeying the rules. It’s a way of approaching life situations and handling the potential loss. We are not born perfect and blessed with only good virtues. Sometimes it happens that we realize situation but we try going the other way and getting what we want. This is what sport teaches us. Maybe we don’t all have a sense of fair play, but we can certainly develop it during the sports. This is why playing sports in childhood matters; so we can introduce these habits from a young age. Once you learn to feel good about being fair, this will be your mantra not just in sport but in life too.

6. Healthy competition

This is one of sports aspects that help us grow. It is good to compete with others, but there are boundaries. Winning is good, but we must learn how to lose with dignity. This will help us handle some other life situations, where it’s important to keep your dignity and self-respect. Nobody likes to lose, but it is a natural part of life. It is also important to acknowledge if someone else is better than you, without feeling bitter and defeated. This is what healthy sports competition is all about.

7. Squad (aka your Tribe)

Whether you like to play a certain sport or just go to the gym, there will be other people for sure. And you will feel like you have something in common with them. Meeting friends on sports and playing with them for years make you develop a certain bond that can’t be broken easily. It is a bond of common interest and team playing, achieving results, getting excited or disappointed together. You are helping each other achieve your goals and cheering for one another down that road. It’s a one feeling shared among all of you, and everyone feels it differently, but all of you together make a whole. That is one of the best things about playing sports.

8. Stress reliever

How many times did you hear someone says he needs to ‘get it out’ of the system? This means that you can exercise your way out of the stressful situations. It doesn’t have to be any specific sport or training, just riding bicycles through the woods or nature can help you release stress and tension and feel energized and refreshed. If you are driving a car to work every day, consider replacing it with a bicycle. It has multiple benefits- you will spend less gas and help the environment. You can easily park anywhere in the city and store your bike in your apartment, not worrying about the parking space and tickets. And when coming back from work, you will have this time gap to relax while cycling and to release of all the stress accumulated during long work hours.

9. Cures depression

It is well-known fact that during the exercise your body releases chemicals called endorphins. These chemicals have multiple beneficial effects on our brain, including the reduced perception of pain by acting like analgesics and having sedating effects. Some of these effects are the same as the response of our body to morphine, only since naturally produced in our brain, they are not causing addiction or dependence. This boosts good feelings and happy thoughts and can help with the state of depression. So if diagnosed with depression, try reaching for your running shoes instead of drugs. It may actually change your life for better.

10. The Flow State

Other than releasing endorphins, physical activity helps establish a perfect synergy between endorphins, dopamine and blood pressure, leading to the so-called ‘flow’. This is the feeling of endless power when a person is feeling nothing but joy. It is very common among the runners, also known as ‘runner’s high‘. Once you experience this feeling, you will maintain your exercise habits every day, for the rest of your life.

So what do you think?

Overall positive effects of sport and physical activity are backed up with scientific research and personal statements of many people whose lives have changed significantly after engaging in everyday sports activities. If you are experiencing some of the mental states stationed above, it’s about time to introduce your weekly or even daily routine. Other than obvious health benefits, you will experience these mental boosts very soon. And, once you do, you will start wondering what were you waiting for all this time.

Author Bio:

Jessie is a passionate blogger and home designer. She loves writing about tips and tricks that make every home a better place, inside and outside. Besides this, she loves sports, martial arts, outdoor activities and spending time with her close ones. Be sure to connect with Jessie on Facebook and Twitter.