What are the Benefits of Aerobic Exercise?

There are three major levels of benefits to be reaped from your aerobic lifestyle: your looks, your health and your mental fitness.

It is one of the best self improvement activies you can ever engage in. Aerobics, as we’ve already discussed, burns fat and slims you down in much shorter time than dieting alone ever could. Aerobic exercise also does nice things for your skin, increasing its glow and elasticity. The sweat you work up opens your pores, making the time after aerobics class the perfect opportunity for an exfoliating scrub or a mask. Your clothes will fit looser and you will move more freely. You’ll have more energy, too.

Your physical health improves in all sorts of ways, from increased oxygen consumption and blood volume, to lower blood pressure and resting heart rate. Your “bad” (LDL) cholesterol will decrease and your “good” (HDL) cholesterol will increase. Your heart won’t be working as hard in normal activity, your blood pressure will be lower, and your glucose tolerance will be improved. If you’re watching your diet as well as exercising regularly, you are doing all sorts of wonderful things for your chemistry, making your body more inclined to lose fat.

Along with your good-looking outside and your good-feeling insides, your brain and mind benefit greatly from exercise. Depression studies continue to find that people who exercise tend to suffer less depression and experience shorter-duration depression than people who don’t exercise.

Exercise is also terrific for siphoning off some anxiety: people tend to feel more relaxed after working out, and they sleep better too. Exercise (particularly aerobic exercise) promotes the release of endorphins in the brain, creating a powerful and natural antidepressant activity that lasts well beyond the workout itself. Exercise is an important component of good mental health, releasing stress and tension, reducing anxiety and fighting depression with hormones and endorphins –the feel-good chemicals your body needs.