Regular physical activity is good for us. It reduces our risk of cardiovascular disease and up to 13 different types of cancer, is really good for our bones and joints, and it’s great for our mental health too! But what actually happens inside the body to make it so good for us?
Here are 6 thing’s that happen inside your body when you exercise that benefit your health.
Improved heart function
The human heart works like a pump sending blood around your body to keep you alive. It’s about the size of your fist, in the middle of your chest tilted slightly to the left.
Each day, your heart beats around 100,000 times. This continuously pumps about five litres
of blood around your body through a network of blood vessels called your circulatory system. This blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to all parts of your body to help your organs and muscles work properly. Your blood also carries away unwanted carbon dioxide and waste products.
The heart is a muscle – the more it is used, or more active you are, the more efficient it becomes. It actually increases in size, much the same as muscles in your body ‘tone’ up, and pumps blood more efficiently and at larger rates around the body as a result of regular physical activity.
Improved blood flow to the heart
Like the rest of your body, your heart needs to be supplied with oxygen-rich blood to work properly too. The coronary arteries are the arteries responsible for supplying the heart with oxygenated blood. The coronary arteries are spread across the outside of the heart to deliver the blood.
Regular physical activity improves blood flow to the heart enabling it to work more efficiently.
Lowers blood sugar levels
Type 2 diabetes is where your blood sugar levels (otherwise known as blood glucose) are too high, this occurs when your body cannot use the glucose you get from food. In healthy people the pancreas releases a hormone called Insulin when we eat. Insulin switches on the cells around your body to absorb glucose and use it as fuel for energy.
For people with Type 2 diabetes the body does not respond to insulin – as a result glucose build up in the blood, this can damage the arteries. Damaged artery walls makes it easier for fatty deposits to build up which can limit the circulation of blood and oxygen and can increase the risk of a stroke or heart attack.
Regular physical activity combined with a balanced healthy diet improves the body’s ability to return blood glucose levels to normal levels, and improves the body’s sensitivity to insulin.
Reduces inflammation
Sometimes if you haven’t exercised for a while the following couple of days can be quite stiff and painful, this is known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). The more active you are the quicker your body responds and you can recover more quickly.
If you suffer from a chronic condition such as arthritis, the more active you are the quicker your body responds to inflammation which can help reduce pain and the symptoms of your condition.
Lowers blood pressure
Blood pressure is the pressure of blood in your arteries – the vessels that carry your blood from your heart to your brain and the rest of your body. You need a certain amount of pressure to get the blood moving round your body. Your blood pressure naturally goes up and down throughout the day and night, and it’s normal for it to go up while you’re moving about. It’s when your overall blood pressure is consistently high, even when you are resting, that you need to do something about it.
High blood pressure is medically known as hypertension. It means your blood pressure is consistently too high and means that your heart has to work harder to pump blood around your body.
Although your arteries are stretchy to cope with your blood pressure going up and down, if you have high blood pressure, your arteries lose their stretchiness and become stiff or narrow. This narrowing of the arteries makes it easier for fatty material to clog them up.
Regular physical activity keeps your arteries nice and stretchy which helps lower your blood pressure, and reduces the build-up of fatty materials which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Lowers cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in your blood. Everyone has cholesterol – we need it to stay healthy because every cell in our body uses it. High cholesterol
is when you have too much cholesterol in your blood. This can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease such as a heart attack or stroke. There are two main types of cholesterol, one is good for you and the other bad. Having too much ‘bad’ cholesterol can cause problems with your health.
Cholesterol is produced naturally in the liver and is carried in your blood by proteins. When cholesterol and proteins combine, they’re called lipoproteins. Non-high-density lipoproteins or non-HDL is called ‘bad’ cholesterol. This is because when there is too much of it, it can build up inside the walls of the blood vessels. This clogs them up causing narrowing of the arteries which increases the risk of a heart attack or stroke. High-density lipoproteins or HDL is called ‘good’ cholesterol. This is because it gets rid of the ‘bad’ cholesterol from the blood. It takes cholesterol that’s not needed back to the liver. The liver breaks it down so it can be passed out of the body.
Regular physical activity, combined with a balanced healthy diet lowers ‘bad’ cholesterol and increases ‘good’ cholesterol.
Healthy Active 