Great Reasons to Start a Workout Routine Right Now

Are you feeling sluggish and unhealthy? Today's fast-paced lifestyle is jam-packed from morning to night but that doesn't mean you're prioritizing the right things to live the best life you can. In fact, many people try to fund a busy lifestyle using fast food and caffeine for energy and alcohol to destress.

Having a regular workout routine is an incredible and natural way to improve your health and happiness though, and you don't need to spend an inordinate amount of time for it to produce results. An effective workout can be relatively short and efficient or it can be more intensive. Both offer several remarkable benefits. Here are five great reasons to start a regular workout routine.

Exercise Relieves Stress

It's no secret that exercise can feel rather good. It can also be difficult and strenuous though so that positive feeling doesn't come free. It's certainly an investment worth making, however, as it's an investment into yourself and your own mental health.

Regular exercise--whether aerobic or resistance-based--takes your mind off whatever ails you. It also reduces the concentration of several neurotransmitters in the brain that mediate some of the negative sensations of stress. These chemicals, like adrenaline, are important for your body and mind but too much can begin a cascade of negative symptoms that make life less enjoyable.

Exercise doesn't just serve to reduce stress-inducing hormones though. A good workout raises levels of endorphins and dopamine--hormones that are involved in pleasure, happiness, motivation, and satisfaction. Over-reliance on caffeine and alcohol to get through a day often leads to a decrease in the concentration of hormones like these.

Reducing your consumption frequency and replacing it with regular exercise can help to maintain balanced levels of both stress-inducing and stress-relieving hormones. This also serves to reduce the risk of depression and anxiety too so it's a powerful way to improve and maintain good mental health.

Short Workouts Can Be Just as Effective

Concerned that you don't have enough time or motivation for a long workout routine? Luckily this isn't a problem you need to worry about. Short workouts can be just as effective as longer routines sometimes even more so!

One of the best kinds of workouts both in general and especially for anyone strapped for time is high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This kind of exercise is aimed at performing short bursts of very intense exercise for up to 30 seconds followed by a short break to allow your heart rate to fall back down. A whole routine can be completed in as little as 30 minutes.

Although a typical HIIT routine is short, that doesn't mean you get fewer results than a traditional routine. HIIT is focused on performing at the maximum level of effort you can handle for each short cycle and this has a dramatic effect on your metabolism. Not only will you burn a significant amount of calories during the workout due to the intensity, but you will also maintain an increased ability to burn calories for several hours after the workout.

Even if you can't handle a HIIT routine or want to work up to it first with a traditional routine, a short workout is also better than nothing. A little exercise in any form helps to keep your body running smoothly and more just optimizes this further and gives you the most bang for your buck.

Exercise is Anti-Aging

Regular exercise is great for your body and mind but the benefits it provides aren't limited to the present. Keeping to a routine helps to slow some of the worst aspects of ageing and allow you to live a longer, healthier life. Imagine having more time to spend with your loved ones and remain active throughout retirement.

Exercise achieves this by reducing some of the most dangerous and debilitating illnesses and symptoms related to ageing. The incidence of conditions like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are all reduced by a regular workout routine.

Furthermore, intense exercise can activate the cellular pathways involved in cleaning up old, damaged cells and other debris. This actively slows ageing by supporting a robust bodily structure. HIIT is known to be most effective for this but any exercise of sufficient intensity to challenge you can activate these regeneration pathways. You can't turn back the clock, but slowing it down is the next best thing!

Improves Metabolism

Another important benefit of regular exercise is that it improves your metabolism. The adaptations from exercise help to foster a vigorous metabolism in many ways including by causing your muscles to store energy more effectively so that it can't be immediately stored as fat, and by boosting the amount of energy your body uses at rest to fuel recovery.

Everyone wants to eat more of their favourite foods and a regular exercise routine represents a way to do this without gaining excess weight as readily. Of course, moderation is everything in any situation. The metabolic boost from a good workout is just one step in the right direction and you should also try to maintain a healthy and balanced diet to achieve the best combination of benefits from your lifestyle.

Improves Motivation and Self-Image

Last but certainly no less important is the amazing effect that a workout routine has on your motivation, self-image, and overall confidence. These are all important aspects that are often neglected to ill effect. Not only does a bad lifestyle leave you feeling sick and tired, but it can also often lead to a poor image of oneself.

Regular exercise has real, tangible results that can also be seen on a physical level. The effect of a workout routine is eventually visible in the mirror and this is a great reward for all your hard effort. It's also one of the most motivating and satisfying aspects of exercise because it can be seen with your own eyes as proof that it's working. This proof can help to reinforce your commitment to maintaining the routine.

It's never good to be overly obsessed with appearance, but a healthy amount of attention to it can have a very positive effect. The results of adhering to an exercise routine show people that you care about your health and that you invest in yourself. This in turn shows that you are a dependable and diligent person, helping you present a good image in job interviews, business meetings, dates, and various other important settings.

Exercise doesn't have to be gruelling or take up half your day to be effective and there are so many great reasons to start a workout routine right now. So what are you waiting for? A happier, healthier version of you is just around the corner and it could only take 30 minutes a day to achieve it!