Are you looking for a way to increase your stamina, experience a healthy mind and body, and avoid health problems? You might think the answer is a prescription pill, an expensive diet plan, or something else that requires a credit card. It’s much simpler than that. Exercise is the key. The health benefits of regular, weekly exercise are staggering.

Weekly Exercise
By exercising weekly, you can gain muscle tone, keep a healthy weight, feel good in your mind and in your body, and even extend your lifespan while you’re at it. The benefits of exercise can be yours regardless of your weight, age, or level of physical ability. There’s a way to get good, weekly exercise in almost any situation, and the health benefits begin as soon as your exercise regimen starts.

It seems everywhere you look, everyone’s trying to lose weight. Your family, your friends, your neighbors, and every time you turn on the television, someone is trying to sell something that promises instant weight loss. With exercise, the weight loss may not be instantaneous, but regular weekly exercise is one of the best ways to lose weight gradually and safely. When you engage in exercise on a regular basis, you burn calories. The higher the intensity of your exercise is, the more calories you’ll be burning. If you’re looking to start exercising, you don’t need to get an expensive gym membership or buy heavy duty equipment. Sometimes it’s as easy as taking a short walk instead of starting up the car, or taking a flight of stairs instead of the elevator.

The leading causes of death are heart attack and stroke, and it’s widely accepted that keeping low blood pressure and cholesterol are necessary to avoid heart problems. If you get just 150 minutes (or 2 hours and 30 minutes) of aerobic activity a week, you’ll lower your risk for these diseases. You can reduce your risk even further with more activity, but if you’re just beginning to increase your exercise, do so at a slow, steady pace. Cardiac events, like stroke or heart attack, are rare during physical activity, but the risk does go up when you suddenly change your lifestyle. Talk to your doctor before jumpstarting a high intensity exercise regimen and make sure you’re doing exercises correctly to get the full benefit.

The benefits of exercise aren’t only physical
The benefits of exercise aren’t only physical; the benefits are mental and emotional as well. Walking on the treadmill or swimming laps in the pool for as little as thirty minutes can not only help you feel good about yourself. It also reverses the negative effects of stress. Exercise tames tension by working on a cellular level to improve your stress level and even signs of aging, too. Burning calories with regular exercise can also decrease your risk for depression. You’re not just sweating off calories. You’re sweating off stress and tension, as well.

As you can see, regular weekly exercise is a great way to improve your mood, burn calories, reduce stress, add years to your life, and decrease your risk for health problems. So the next time someone asks you if you’re up for exercising, think about all the benefits and answer back, “I’ll grab my workout gear. Count me in!”