Move Your Body
Learn the in’s and out’s of why moving your body gives you many unique benefits, including your mental health, longevity, and how it can be comparable to medication and psychotherapies.
Our bodies are amazing! When you stay active as much as possible, you can reap so many benefits such as:
Lower blood pressure,
Regulate blood sugar,
Resting heart rate goes down,
Improve immune system,
Increase muscular strength and endurance,
Improve cardiovascular health,
Strengthen joint health,
Better mental functions,
Quality of sleep.
Multiple studies have even shown that being sedentary or sitting down all day is more likely to decrease an individual’s lifespan, reduce the quality of life, and can increase the risk of developing chronic diseases.
You don’t have to make drastic changes to start seeing benefits; start small.
Find something you can do to move your body at least 30 minutes each day with activities like:
Walking,
Jogging,
Hiking,
Bicycling,
Vacuuming,
Cleaning the house,
Gardening.
Don’t judge your movement! Remember that any movement is better than no movement. Change your mindset from “having to” to “getting the opportunity” to honor your body with movement!
Now, let’s talk about 6 excellent benefits that happen when you move your body.
Benefit #1: Helps With Blood Circulation
This is one of the most critical functions in your body’s system and plays a crucial role in maintaining your overall health.
When you move your body, your heart rate increases by pumping blood in and out; it moves healthy blood and oxygen throughout the body. It helps ensure that your heart, lungs, and muscles function optimally.
It also helps you avoid potential diseases and sickness because the white blood cells in your immune system get moved with the blood throughout the circulation system.
Lastly, efficient blood circulation helps eliminate waste from the organs’ processes to build or break down nutrients and keep your body from getting sick – especially with the toxic build-up.
Benefit #2: Helps Increase Energy
When the blood circulation is not efficient, the body cannot use the stomach to break down nutrients and convert them into energy.
It can cause severe struggles down the road, and here’s why.
The energy needs to get released into the bloodstream to help the following organs: brain, heart, muscles, and liver.
When we don’t move our bodies, we won’t maximize our bodies’ efficiency in creating the energy we need to sustain our breathing, eating, sleeping, walking, working, and any other activities we perform in our everyday lives.
So when you prioritize moving your body daily, you will experience your energy increase!
Benefit #3: Increases Your Brain Functions
Moving your body influences the brain function leading to an increase in processing information and decision making.
The cerebellum is responsible for your balance, posture, coordination, and motor skills and plays an essential role in thinking and emotion!
Studies have shown that movement helps keep the brain healthy and improve the your brain functions.
Movement helps to aids in the creation of new neurons that grow, thrive, and more. It allows new cells to stay and do something rather than leaving the new cells to die because of inactivity.
Experts have even shown that movement correlates with helping you think, learn, and remember better!
Benefit #4: Boost Your Mood
Movement correlates with your mood. It has shown to change your mood, create more positive feelings, and is directly related to your overall quality of life.
When you move, your body releases chemicals called “endorphins.” Endorphins trigger a positive feeling similar to morphine to your body, so it helps to bring about feelings of euphoria and general well-being.
You have probably experienced this yourself after you’ve moved your body, and it is also why you often hear the term “runners high.”
Endorphins also act as analgesics, which mean they can diminish the perception of pain, directly impacting your mental health.
Benefit #5: Manage the Lymph System
Your lymphatic system plays a vital role in the immune system in removing waste such as bacteria, viruses, toxins, and abnormal cells.
When you don’t move your body, it can restrict the lymph system’s flow, leading to a build-up of waste and toxins that play a significant role in inflammation and disease.
Your lymph system relies on movement and your muscles’ contraction to help make the fluid move. If we are unable to make our muscles work, it restricts our lymph system to function optimally.
Moving your body also helps the process by isolating and eliminating unnecessary particles out of your body system.
The lymph system also checks on your fluid balance in the tissues (and organs), leading to effectively and efficiently absorbing fats and fat-soluble nutrients.
Benefit #6: Regulates Digestion & Elimination
Moving your body correlates with digestion, which can also help treat constipation feelings of discomfort!
70% of the body’s immune system resides in the gut.
Suppose we don’t keep our gut healthy. In that case, it can leave us with an increase risk associated with coeliac diseases, colds and flu, type-1 diabetes, skin conditions (like eczema), chronic fatigue, and even cancer.
Movement helps stimulate the gut by increasing intestinal activity, meaning the blood flow is delivered to the digestive system’s muscles and helps to move and break down food in the digestive tract.
Research also shows the possibility of a direct relationship between movement and the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut.
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, you are starting to understand why honoring your body with movement can be as effective as medication and psychotherapies but without the side- effects and out-of-pocket expenses!
Your next step is to find a way to keep your body healthy by moving at least 30 minutes a day to maximize all of the benefits it has!
I’m curious, what’s your favorite takeaway from this post? Comment below.
xx,
Julie
