We hear the term cardio exercise, Cycling, Running, and Hiking, comes to mind, but that’s not all the cardio exercises.
What is cardio exercise?
Cardio or Aerobics is any activity that gets your heart racing and your lungs gasping for breath; it could be running, dancing, speed walking or even sex (that’s a fun cardio, right?).
When it comes to cardiovascular exercises, the options are limitless to improve your overall quality of life. But I think it’s safe to say that most people would do some public speaking instead of cardio. It’s a dreaded word, and for others, it’s an intensity they can’t get enough of.
Yet it’s good for us. How good? Well, we present to you some health benefits of cardio exercises.
Here are Some Benefits of Cardio Exercises
1. It Is Great For Your Heart
Your heart is a muscle, just like any other, and for it to become healthy, it must be Trained. Cardio is excellent for heart health and preventing heart disease. When you do cardio, you strengthen your heart.
Cardio exercise is recommended by the American Heart Association and by most doctors to people with, or at risk for, heart disease. That’s because Cardio workout is an excellent way to get your heart pumping blood at a faster rate to keep it in fit shape and optimal health. Plus, cardio exercise lowers your LDL (bad) cholesterol.
2. It promotes brain health
Our brain starts losing tissue after we reach age 30. Research has shown that exercise may combat brain cell deterioration in older adults and improve memory, brain health, and physical fitness in sedentary adults.
3. Stronger immune system
Your immune system will definitely benefit from doing some cardiovascular exercise. Several studies have shown that frequent and steady cardiovascular exercise increases specific antibodies in the blood called immunoglobulins, ultimately strengthening the immune system.
4. Weight Control
Being physically active also helps you with your weight. Cardio is tremendous for burning calories if you are looking for weight loss.
In addition to Cardio exercise, cutting calories can reduce the amount of exercise needed to lose the same amount of weight.
And exercising with an empty or near-empty stomach will directly contribute to weight loss.
5. Boosts mood
Cardiovascular exercise is excellent for your mental health because our body releases endorphins, also known as feel-good hormones, when we exercise. These are chemicals in our brain that help improves our mood and reduce anxiety or depression.
6. Better Sleep
If you’re having struggle sleeping at night, try cardiovascular exercise during your waking hours. A large part of this is because it uses up energy. Simply put, a good session of cardiovascular exercise will help tire you out, which is, of course, an excellent way to get to sleep.
However, Exercising too close to bedtime may make it more difficult to sleep as some people find it stimulates their mind, and they find it hard to sleep right after.
7. Increased Metabolism
Besides boosting our heart rate, cardio exercise increases the rate of various processes in our body, also known as metabolism.
Generally speaking, the more intense the cardio session, the more noticeable increase you will see regarding your metabolic rate, and an increased metabolism means an easier time maintaining your weight as it helps burn calories faster.
8. It regulates diabetes
Regular physical activity helps regulate insulin levels and lower blood sugar and help prevent type 2 diabetes. Blood pumping activity helps the muscles do a better job of processing glycogen and helps stabilize levels and prevent dangerous swings.
9. It’s affordable and convenient
You don’t need any fancy equipment or a gym membership to do cardio. You can do it anywhere and any time as any muscle movement is called cardio, so you can just walk, climb a flight of stairs, dance to your favourite music or have some fun time with your partner (if you know what we mean).