Exercise

The Power Of A Great Workout!

Dr. Atif Arif, MD
January 11, 2022
Updated February 2, 2022

What You Think You Know

You probably know that exercise is important for your health. Still, you might be surprised to learn to what extent this is true and how easy it can be to enjoy its advantages. Let’s look at three of the most salient benefits.

First, exercise can increase your longevity. One study showed that just walking 20 to 30 minutes per day can slash people’s rate of premature death by 20 to 30 percent. Another study showed that switching from a sedentary lifestyle to one that incorporates a daily run gives people an extra three years of life. And no, you don’t need to be running marathons – even running five minutes per day at a pace of six miles per hour provides similar longevity benefits to running 30 minutes a day at a faster pace!

Some of the reason for this is that exercise increases your telomeres, which are the protective caps on your cells’ chromosomes. When they’re shortened, they become weaker, which leads to cell damage, causing them to age. That puts you at an increased risk of prematurely dying from a wide variety of diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Second, exercise can increase your happiness. Consider a 2018 review of 23 studies in the Journal of Happiness Studies, which collectively gathered data on 500,000 people from a wide range of age, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The review showed that doing just ten minutes of aerobic, stretching or balancing exercises per week was associated with increased happiness.

Whats In It For Me?

You might be familiar with some of the factors behind this benefit, such as the release of the feel-good hormones called endorphins. But here’s one that may be new to you: exercise increases the population of beneficial bacteria in your gut. Some of these bacteria produce feel-good neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and serotonin. Indeed, more than 90 percent of your serotonin is produced in your gastrointestinal tract!

Third, exercise can increase your intelligence. According to studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, exercise provokes neurogenesis – the creation of new neurons, which are the main type of brain cell. It also helps the brain to both make new connections and strengthen existing connections between its neurons. This helps the brain to encode new memories and learn new things. Finally refusing to go to the gym does not count as a resistance workout 😉

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627303007876

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0010837

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322103242.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/well/move/even-a-little-exercise-might-make-us-happier.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445739/

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/microbes-help-produce-serotonin-gut-46495

https://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133498136/growing-a-bigger-brain-is-a-walk-in-the-park