Living healthy isn’t hard; taking the first step toward better self-care is as easy as saying “no” to that slice of cake or getting off a stop early during your morning bus ride to work. Healthy living can help your body in mysterious and noticeable ways.

5 Interesting Things About Healthy Living You Never Think About

Exercise Helps Fight Disease

Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure and even bone density loss can all be avoided by exercise. The American Heart Association credits inactivity as the biggest catalyst for developing fatty buildup in the arteries, known as coronary artery disease. Exercise also strengthens the heart and helps regulate blood pressure as the heart learns to pump blood more efficiently. Even if you’ve already suffered a heart attack, regular exercise can reduce the risk of having another one.

Exercise Increases Happiness and Energy

Your body releases endorphins when you do exercise. This chemical in the brain boosts your happiness and can even give you a sense of euphoria. This leads to lasting energy all day, and can even stabilize your mood over time and prevent mental illnesses like depression.

Strength Training

Although you can’t “burn” fat in specific places, you can build muscle to replace fat with weight lifting and strength training. Exercises like burpees and squats can help you smooth and tone your legs. Strength training cannot treat varicose veins, though, so visit a treatment center to turn back the clock on your thighs. Some treatment centers, like Ivein, map the veins in your body to more accurately understand and diagnose your condition. With more knowledge, the more effective treatments can be.

Boost Your Brain

According to a Harvard study, exercising regularly can improve your brain function. Firstly, exercise can reduce inflammation in the entire body which can stimulate growth of new blood vessels in the brain and improve existing brain cell function. The study also found that over the course of six months to a year, the volume of certain areas in the brain increased.

Balance Food Intake

Weight gain is the simple equation of eating less calories than you burn in a day, causing a caloric deficit. When you exercise, your body is forced to use the fast absorbing glucose from your morning banana and then move on to your fat stores, eliminating what would otherwise be stored on your thighs. The more you workout, the more your metabolic rate improves and the more muscle mass you build, allowing you to eat more maintenance calories while keeping the weight off.