Aim for 30 minutes of exercise per day. This can be any movement you enjoy. Feel free to switch up the type of workouts, but be sure to get in the 30 minutes daily. There are a number of proven reasons why this is essential to your health and happiness:
Exercise Improves Immunity: During exercise the body produces cytokine proteins, which are key in regulating inflammation. Studies conducted by UC San Diego found an aerobic exercise session of 20-minutes resulted in a 5% decrease of inflammatory proteins in the blood stream and a significant increase in beneficial hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Exercise Improves Learning and Cognitive Function: Exercise stimulates brain cell production and increases brain derived neurotrophic factor. This protein in the brain helps to create new neural pathways, essential for information retention and analytical thought.
Exercise Improves Brain Plasticity: The brain capacity to adapt to ever-changing conditions depends on the ability of neurons to modify the strength and composition of their connections in response to both external and internal stimuli. Both endurance and resistance exercises release myokines into the circulation, which improves neural efficiency of the brain. Essentially, any type of exercise allows the brain to improve its capacity for thinking and adapting.
Exercise Lowers Stress: During physical activity, the body’s stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline lower and the production of endorphins are raised. A variety of studies conducted by the American College of Sports Medicine indicates that being physically active improves the way the body handles stress because of changes in the hormone responses, and that exercise affects neurotransmitters in the brain such as dopamine and serotonin that affect mood and behaviors.