Stop taking extra doses of your vitamin C gummies…you don’t need them. There’s a better solution to keep you healthy and prepared to fight any infection or virus, and it’s called exercise.
You read that right - your regular workout routine is helping you fight nasty colds and viruses like the flu (and even coronavirus) before they can even start. Here are some of the ways that regular exercise can help you get fit and stay healthy (now and in the future).
Protects Against Chronic Diseases & Conditions
According to MedlinePlus, exercise can directly lower your chance of developing heart disease. It can even help to keep your blood pressure at a reasonable level or to lower pre-existing high blood pressure levels.
Keeps Body Functions In Check
Exercise can also keep your body processes normal and functioning as they should be, such as digestion. In fact, regular exercise paired with a nutrient dense diet helps to ensure that food can move through your digestive tract efficiently while restoring necessary nutrients to where your body needs them most.
Improves Circulation
According to Harvard University, exercise contributes directly by promoting good circulation. As a result, this allows the cells and substances of the immune system to move through the body freely and do their job right. The more you move, the more your cells move too! Which makes every part of your body happy.
Fall Asleep and Stay Asleep
Did you know that lack of sleep is one of the leading contributors to illness according to MayoClinic? Lucky for you, regular workouts can help you to fall asleep faster and sleep better throughout the entire night. More specifically, exercise can help you to get more slow wave sleep which is the stage of sleep in which the brain and body have a chance to recover.
Relieves Stress and Anxiety
Exercise has direct impacts on stress relief and lowering levels of anxiety. Your workouts release endorphins or your brain’s ‘feel-good’ transmitters. After a gym session, you may even find that you have forgotten any irritations or frustrations from the day.
People with lower levels of stress and anxiety have experienced boosts to their immune system. When the body and mind is stressed, your body reacts with an inflammatory response. This causes our immune system to deteriorate and thus be less able to fight off pending infections.
The magic pill we have all been looking for is truly not a pill but a lifestyle. When you start working out, you not only feel better, look better, and are more confident, but your immune system feels better too!