There’s a reason why some health insurance companies and more and more employers are willing to pick up the tab for gym memberships. Regular workouts can save you a trip to the doctor, decrease sick days, alleviate the need for expensive prescriptions and improve your overall productivity and quality of life. Indeed, the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Council on Exercise and the Medical Fitness Association announced their collaborative Exercise is Medicine Solution in 2016. That effort seeks to encourage physicians to prescribe exercise as medicine and use fitness as a primary defense against disease.
It’s no longer up for debate. More play and less pay is the way! Whether you love mind-body bonanzas, strength training or cardio frenzies, your workouts are silently saving you time and money. Research shows, over and again, that exercise is good preventative medicine. In addition, regular exercise can help people manage many chronic diseases.
5 Ways Working Out Can Keep You From the Doctor’s Office:
1) Lower Blood Pressure
Whether you walk your neighborhood or are committed to working out at the gym, regular exercise that gets your heart rate up most days of the week can help lower your blood pressure. Lower blood pressure means less risk of heart disease and stroke.
You May Also Like: 5 Morning Rituals Done By Highly Successful People
2) Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Type 1 and 2 Diabetes Control
After you exercise, your body responds better to insulin. This means glucose is more efficiently transported out of your blood. Those with Type 1 Diabetes can use exercise to help better manage the disease. Those with Type 2 can see improvement and sometimes even reversal of the condition.
3) Better Bone and Joint Health
Regular exercise helps maintain healthy joints and helps lubricate arthritic ones. In addition, weight-bearing exercise can help stave off bone damaging osteoporosis and, in some cases, improve bone mineral density. In short, regular exercise helps prevent skeletal injury and manage joint pain.
4) Better Memory/Less Brain Fog
Memorizing movement patterns can boost connections in your brain. Exercise that increases your blood flow brings more oxygen to your brain, boosting brain cell growth and rejuvenation. Regular exercise has been shown to guard against some forms of dementia and increase plasticity for people of all ages. Some studies show increased periods of creativity and clearer thinking post-workout.
5) More Endorphins, Less Stress
While exercise-induced endorphin rushes won’t necessarily cure depression, exercise endorphins can boost your mood and lead to decreased feelings of stress and anxiety. Having feel-good hormones instead of stress hormones, like increased cortisol, coursing through your body means a better chance at restful sleep, weight control and a having a healthy immune system.
Join the movement! Workout now to prevent time wasted sitting in a waiting room reading out-dated magazines and exposing yourself to even more germs. Consider your workouts a savings plan that prevents you from having to pay medical bills later. Exercise is great medicine.
