3 Great Reasons to Do Aerobic Exercise
What is aerobic exercise? It’s a type of exercise that causes your body to use oxygen to breakdown glucose to create energy, as well as increases your heart rate, makes you breathe faster and gets you sweating. Good cardio exercises include running, jogging, swimming, riding a bicycle, aerobic dance and aerobic step exercises. Aerobic exercise helps keep your heart and lungs strong and contributes to a healthier body by reducing your risk of diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Aerobic exercise burns fat, helps you lose weight, and may even help to reduce the risk of dementia!
Get Your Brain Working
When you do aerobic exercise, you use all the large muscles in your whole body. Soon you will be breathing faster, your heart rate will increase and you will begin to sweat. Breathing faster and deeper increases the amount of oxygen available for the cells to use when breaking down glucose for energy. Your blood vessels will also dilate so that blood can flow faster and easier to your muscles and carry waste products away from the cells. In addition to giving your muscles and cardiovascular system a good workout, aerobic exercise causes your brain to release a number of chemicals that are beneficial. Your brain releases a substance called endorphins, which naturally reduces pain and creates a sense of well-being and even euphoria. Endorphins also help to relieve stress and stimulate your immune system. When your heart is pumping and your blood vessels are dilated, those endorphins course through your system. After about 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, you should feel tired but great!
Healthy Heart and Lungs
Aerobic exercise works out your heart and lungs improving their capacity and efficiency. A healthy heart beats at a lower rate when you are resting. Your blood pressure will be lower and your breathing should be easier. Your heart and lungs can benefit from regular aerobic exercise regardless of your age or current level of physical fitness. Start slow by exercising 5 to 10 minutes every other day and gradually increase the amount of time you exercise. Try riding a bike for 10 to 15 minutes every other day or walking for 15 minutes and increase the time you spend exercising by 5 minutes each day you exercise. If you have been inactive or have never been physically active, or if you have heart disease, be sure to see your doctor for a complete checkup before beginning any exercise program.
Weight Loss
Regular aerobic exercise and a healthy diet can help you shed pounds fast. Exercises that get your heart pumping and your blood flowing can help burn excess fat as fuel. One pound of fat equals about 3,500 calories. In order to lose 1-pound of body fat, you need to burn 3,500 more calories than you consume. Aerobic exercise combined with a low-calorie, healthy diet is a very efficient way to burn body fat! The average person can burn more than 530 calories per hour doing high impact aerobic exercise. You can burn between 600 and 800 calories jumping rope or running.
