Health and Fitness: Knowing the benefits of different kinds of exercise

Exercise boosts your metabolic rate, or the rate at which you burn calories. Burning calories is especially important when you're on a low-calorie diet because, when you start to eat a lot less food than you normally eat, your body goes into a state known as starvation mode. Your metabolic rate slows down because your body doesn't know you're on a low-calorie diet. For all your body knows, you could be about to starve. In fact, your body is trying to conserve energy in case it doesn't get enough fuel, and thus it's not able to burn calories as efficiently. Exercise helps counter this effect.

Physical activity helps keep you fit, and when you're fit, you look and feel your best. The more fit you are, the better you're able to work, play, think, and even relax. When you're healthy and in good physical and mental shape, you often feel as though you have energy to spare and you're better able to focus on everything you do and enjoy every aspect of your life.

Distinguishing between aerobic and anaerobic exercise

Exercise helps you lose weight and maintain weight loss because it uses up excess calories that would otherwise be stored in your body as fat. Obviously, the amount of exercise you need to control your weight depends on the amount of food you eat as well as the amount and type of exercise. To lose weight, and then to maintain your weight loss, you have to find your own balance between the amounts of food you eat and your amount of exercise. The more rigorous the activity, the more calories you'll burn. However, don't think you have to knock yourself out with intense exercise every day just to stay in shape. Intense workouts help burn fat while you're exercising, but in the long run, steady, moderate exercise is more effective at burning calories than superintense workouts because moderate activity burns a higher percentage of calories overall.

There are two types of exercise: aerobic and anaerobic.

Aerobic means "with oxygen." Aerobic exercise, such as running, biking, stepping, spinning, and fast dancing, helps get necessary oxygen into your body cells. While you're doing aerobic exercises, you're burning excess calories.

Anaerobic, or nonaerobic, means "without oxygen." Anaerobic exercises, such as slow walking, bowling, or strength training with weights, are important to your overall fitness level, but they generally don't help your body burn excess calories while you're performing the exercise.

Different types of exercise affect different parts of your body and have different effects on your health. That's why cross training, or incorporating a variety of exercises into your workout routine, is so important. In that way, exercising is similar to eating: You want as much balance and variety in your daily life as possible. Different types of exercise affect different body parts, and each plays a role in losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight.

Exploring the physical benefits of exercise

Exercise does much more for you than just burn excess calories to help you lose weight. Aerobic exercises have terrific cardiovascular benefits, while anaerobic exercises benefit your muscle groups, bones, and joints. Some of the benefits also cross over. For instance, both aerobic and anaerobic exercises help you sleep better and reduce your blood pressure. Both play huge roles in weight control.

Following are many of the potential physical benefits of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercises improve your health by

Boosting your energy level by building cardio-respiratory endurance

Conditioning your heart

Controlling your appetite

Reducing your risk of developing certain types of cancer and other chronic diseases

Regulating your hormones

Lengthening your life

Anaerobic exercises improve your health by

Bolstering your posture, joint health, and flexibility

Building up muscle strength and endurance

Helping you sleep better

Reducing your blood pressure

Strengthening your bones

Examining the psychological benefits of exercise

Over time, regular aerobic and anaerobic exercise can have as many positive effects on your mental health as it does on your physical health. The following are some of the benefits: