Working out regularly helps you fight serious disease
While you might focus on getting fit to look good and lose weight, you’ll reap plenty of health benefits from regular work-out sessions as well.
Protect against heart disease – exercising regularly at a certain intensity helps to make your heart stronger and more efficient at pumping blood around the body, lowering your risk of developing heart problems by as much as 50 per cent.
Back pain – exercise that focuses on strengthening the back and core muscles that support it, as well as improving posture – such as Pilates – can help reduce bouts of back pain, but check with your GP before embarking on an exercise regime.
Stress and depression – exercising helps the body produce feel-good endorphins which can help relieve stress and depression.
High blood pressure – exercising helps to reduce blood pressure and therefore helps reduce the risk of developing heart disease.
Bone health – high-impact exercise that involves bearing some weight such as running and skipping can help slow the thinning of the bones that happens as we get older.
Improve cholesterol levels – studies have shown that exercise can increase the levels of ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol in the blood, which helps to reduce your risk of heart disease.
Cancer prevention – studies show that women who exercise are less likely to develop breast or colon cancer.
Long life – those who exercise are more likely to live healthy lifestyles and have an active old age and a longer life expectancy as a result.
The NHS recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity five days of the week in order to gain health benefits.