What Happens To Your Body When You Don’t Exercise Enough

Just dieting isn’t going to save you. It’s barely enough to lose weight or stay healthy. Exercising is what you need to get into shape and lead a long, happy, and healthy life.

And no, being thin with a naturally great metabolism doesn’t mean you skip exercising and take your body for granted. Getting in the gym is just as important for you as the friend who seems to pile up all the pounds with just one piece of chocolate!

In fact, if you don’t exercise, that body you’re proud of could land in some serious trouble. Find out what can happen to you if you don’t exercise down below. Be warned though, some of these are quite nasty!

1. You Get Unhealthy Food Cravings

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Ever heard of something called the ‘transfer effect’? It can be defined as the desire to improve in other spheres of your life when you achieve perfection in one, such as learning a new skill. The same thing pretty much happens when you start exercising. You automatically get the desire to eat healthy. However, when you stop exercising, the reverse effect takes place and you stop eating healthy, and start craving and eating more junk (1).

2. You Don’t Get Good Sleep

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Not only is exercising crucial to get in shape, but it is equally important when it comes to the quality of sleep. That tossing and turning you experience? Yep, that’s happening because you just don’t hit the gym anymore! When you exercise regularly, your total sleep time increases and so does the feeling of being well-rested and alert (2). Besides, exercising can also help you fight insomnia (3).

3. You Get Out Of Breath Easily

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Simple activities such as carrying a bag of groceries or climbing up or down the stairs can turn into very taxing tasks if you do not exercise enough. Breathlessness can take over and make you feel like you’ve done a lot even when you really haven’t. However, when you exercise regularly, your cardiovascular health improves, which, in turn, leads to better lung capacity and reduced chances of breathlessness (4).

4. Your Metabolism Takes A Hit

 

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Being naturally thin with a great metabolism is a blessing, no doubt, but if you don’t take care of it by exercising, you’re going to lose it. The only way left to improve your metabolism then is to exercise. Studies have shown that those who exercise witness an improvement in their RMR or resting metabolic rate, which is basically your rate metabolism when you’re not working out (5).

5. Your Chances Of Getting Injured Increase

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Exercising keeps your body more fluid and flexible. Which means, even if you try taking dancing lessons, for example, there’s really no chance of you getting injured. However, when you don’t sweat it out, something called muscle deconditioning takes place (6). This means you lose your flexibility, strength, and even cardiovascular fitness. And when you lose that, you can get hurt simply by reaching up for something at a height!

6. Mood Swings And Depression Set In

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If your Monday morning blues extend to Tuesday, Wednesday, and all the other days of the week, the cause behind it might be lack of exercise. Regular exercising can have a dramatically positive effect on your mood as it releases high quantities of serotonin and dopamine – hormones that are associated with the feel-good feeling (7). Plus, if you have been diagnosed with depression, you will see a noticeable reduction in its symptoms if you exercise (8).

7. Your Stress Levels Rise

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Stress is a highly common phenomenon. And there are high chances that you are feeling it right now too, even if it’s at the back of your head. Needless to say, high levels of stress are bad for you as they can lead to high blood pressure and, consequently, heart disease. And all this because you’re not exercising! If you get into the habit of working out though, you can save yourself, as according to a study, women who exercised experienced lower levels of stress (9).

8. Your Bones Become Weaker

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Weakening of bones is a natural side effect of aging, and it’s four times as common in women as in men. That said, it’s one side effect that can be avoided. How? By going to the gym and indulging in resistance training! Research has proven that this kind of exercise positively affects the bone density of women, preventing them from developing osteoporosis after menopause (10). If you’re postmenopausal though, strength training can help.

9. It May Lead To An Early Grave

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As you can see from the points mentioned above, if you suffer from all of these things, your life is bound to be cut short. However, it doesn’t have to be. If you get into the habit of exercising, you can not only prevent yourself from getting certain types of cancer but can also live a longer life overall (11)!

Don’t panic after reading this article! It’s never too late to start exercising. Just make sure you do start and that you do it regularly.

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