What are the Health Benefits of Sports?

It’s not always easy to motivate yourself to do sport. You sweat, it’s hard, sometimes it even hurts after an intensive session, and this for several days. Why work so hard when the call of the couch is so strong?

Why is it good to exercise regularly?

Regular sport helps to reduce body fat, yes, but not only that! Regular exercise will not only give you a feeling of physical well-being but will also have an effect on your morale and general health! Don’t have the time or the motivation to do sport every day? Walking for 30 minutes a day can help you to exercise and make the most of your time. There are always solutions, and as my great-great uncle’s sister-in-law on my mother’s side said, “where there’s a will, there’s a way!

This is the main reason that comes to mind when you ask yourself why you should do sport: because it keeps you fit! By practising sport, you will have a positive effect on a whole range of aspects of your health. The list of health benefits of sport is as long as your arm: better functioning of the heart and blood activity, increase in muscle mass, decrease in fat mass, maintenance of joints and bones, decrease in stress, decrease in the risk of cancer, benefits for the brain such as improved sleep… In short, doing sport will allow you to live longer and in better shape.

What is Sport good for?

“It makes the birds laugh, the bees sing, it chases away the clouds and makes the sun shine!” this is probably what this famous Creole band is talking about! One thing is certain: once you have done your sport session, you are on a cloud of good humour.

It has been clearly demonstrated that regular physical activity can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and lower the risk of high blood pressure. It improves your body’s endurance, increases your stamina and flexibility.

Physical activity is also an essential preventive measure to keep your bones strong and prevent osteoporosis. Practising sport helps to prevent low back pain and the recurrence of symptoms. Muscle strengthening from exercise is also beneficial for chronic inflammatory rheumatism. Healthy ageing and maintaining effective immune function for longer are also benefits of exercise.

How does Sport affect your Mind?

We know the benefits of sport on the body but we underestimate its benefits on the head, the psyche and the mind. Why is sport good for your morale?  How can you achieve fulfilment?

It’s scientifically proven: doing sport gives your body and mind a concentrated pleasure. The endorphins released by the brain during and after sport and the simultaneous reduction in stress hormones. After 30 minutes of sport, endorphins are released in the body, acting like a real morphine. Its effects are multiple: slight euphoria, reduction in the sensation of pain and fatigue, anti-stress effects, reduction in fatigue, etc. Having a high level of morale will obviously boost your motivation to continue practising sport. And in addition to this good mood, sport will improve your confidence and self-esteem, you will feel more comfortable in your body, in harmony with yourself.

In addition to the secretion of hormones such as endorphins, which provide a feeling of well-being and pleasure, sport has other benefits, particularly at the intellectual level. Endurance physical activity improves the circulation of oxygen in the body and contributes to a better oxygenation of the brain, which in turn improves the performance of brain activity. For this reason, it is advisable to clear the mind during the day. Many people are sometimes afraid of wasting their time by taking a break. Whether you are at work, at school, or studying for an exam, exercising helps you to be more efficient afterwards. “A healthy mind in a healthy body”, cultivating moral and physical strength for total fulfilment.

Endorphins and dopamine are the best “drugs” to fight stress, they are real anxiolytics. Incredible, isn’t it? But how does sport act on stress? How do these little hormones, nicknamed the happiness hormones, act on the brain? Well, you see, physical activity secretes hormones that have the same effects as certain drugs. Endorphins are analgesics, they reduce the sensation of pain, diminish negative emotions and contribute to the reduction of stress! It is all these endorphins that can bring the body into a state of euphoria, you can have a feeling of floating, of fullness… You could become addicted!