7 Amazing Benefits of Learning Exercises

You probably have a vague sense that exercise is good for you - and you have probably heard that it is "good for the heart. But if you, like most people, are not motivated enough to make you sweat regularly. As I report in the cover of TIME "The Exercise Cure", only 20% of Americans get the recommended 150 minutes of strength and cardiovascular exercise per week, more than half of all baby boomers report no exercise at all, and 80.2 million Americans over the age of 6 are completely inactive.

This is bad news, but recent data shows that there are many good reasons to exercise at any age, even when you are sick or pregnant. In fact, scientists will learn that exercise is actually medicine. "There is no pill that comes even close to what exercise is capable of," says Claude Bouchard, director of the Human Genomics Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana. "And if I did, it would be very expensive."

You can read the whole story in more detail, but here are some of the amazing things that happen to a body in motion.

1.  Movement is great for your brain.

It's due to less depression, better memory and faster learning. Research also shows that exercise is now the best way to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer's, which many Americans fear.

Scientists do not know exactly why exercise changes the structure and function of the brain, but this is an area of active research. So far, they have found that exercise improves blood flow to the brain and, thanks to the protein BDNF (the brain's neurotrophic factor), promotes the growth of new blood vessels and even new brain cells. BDNF stimulates the growth of new nerve cells and helps to restore brain cells and protect them from degeneration. According to recent research, it can also help people concentrate.

2. They can get happier.

Countless studies show that many types of exercise, from walking to cycling, help people feel better and can even relieve symptoms of depression. Exercise causes release into the brain of chemicals - serotonin, norepinephrine, endorphins, dopamine - that reduce pain, relax the mood, and relieve stress. "For years, we've focused almost exclusively on the physical benefits of exercise and have really ignored the psychological and emotional benefits of regular exercise," said Cedric Bryant, chief scientist at the American Physical Exercise Council.

3. It can cause you to age slower.

It's been proven that training extends the life span to five years. A new small study has shown that medium intensity exercise can slow down the aging of cells. As people get older and their cells continue to divide, their telomeres - the protective caps at the end of the chromosome - get shorter. To find out how exercise affects telomeres, researchers took muscle biopsies and blood samples from ten healthy people before and after a 45-minute stationary bike ride. They found that exercise increases the concentration of the molecule that protects the telomeres, so that over time the telomeres shrink more slowly. Thus, exercise seems to slow down the aging process at the cellular level.

4. It makes your skin better.

Aerobic exercise stimulates the blood circulation in your skin and provides oxygen and nutrients that improve your skin and even accelerate wound healing. "That's why people have to move as fast as possible when they're injured - not only to keep their muscles atrophied, but also to keep their skin well supplied with blood," says Anthony Hackney, a sports physiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. If you work out long enough, your skin also has plenty of blood vessels and tiny capillaries.

Skin also serves as a heat release point. When you work out, your muscles produce a lot of heat, which you need to release into the environment so your body temperature isn't too high, says Hackney. The heat in your muscles is transferred to the blood, which releases it to the skin, and then it can go into the atmosphere.

5. Amazing things can happen in just a few minutes.

Recent studies show that it doesn't take much effort to get the benefits. "We were wondering how deep you could sink," says Martin Gibala, a physiology trainer at McMaster University in Ontario. He wanted to test how effective a 10-minute workout is compared to a typical 50-minute fight. The microtrainer he developed consists of three intense 20-second intervals in which he trains as hard as possible, followed by short recovery periods. In a three-month study, he compared a short workout with a standard one to find out which one is better. To his surprise, training resulted in the same improvements in heart performance and blood glucose control, even though one workout was five times longer than the other. "If you're ready and able to train hard, you can handle a surprisingly small amount of training.

6. This can help you recover from a serious illness.

Even very energetic exercise - such as interval training, which is studied by Gibal - may actually be suitable for people with various chronic conditions, from type 2 diabetes to heart failure. This is a new way of thinking, because for decades people with certain diseases have been advised not to exercise. Now scientists know that many more people can and should exercise. Recent analysis of over 300 clinical studies has shown that exercise is even more effective in rehabilitating people recovering from a stroke.

7. Their fat cells will shrink.

The body uses both carbohydrates and fats as energy sources. But after consistent aerobic training, the body will be able to burn fats better, which require a lot of oxygen to convert into energy. "One of the benefits of training is that our cardiovascular system is stronger and better at supplying oxygen to the body, so we can metabolise more fats as an energy source," says Hackney. The result is that your fat cells, which produce the substances responsible for chronic low-grade inflammation, shrink and inflammation also occurs.