Sports and Health: Why Is Exercise So Important?

The importance of exercise can be summed up in one scientific finding: Exercise prolongs life, because humans are creatures designed for movement. Even in the Stone Age, we walked 20 to 30 kilometers every day to find food or flee from danger. From an evolutionary perspective, we are still built for hunting and gathering. Our musculoskeletal system hasn’t changed in 10,000 years, but our lifestyle has.

Since the body is designed for an active lifestyle, we need a balance to our comfortable daily routines today. We sit for at least eight hours a day in the office, and on the way there in the car, on the bus, or on the train. After work, we like to be lazy and make ourselves comfortable on the couch. There’s no trace of Stone Age life anywhere to be found.

And yet, all of our body’s functions crave activity, including:

• Muscles
• Bones
• Cardiovascular system
• Immune system
• Brain

What many people don’t know: Our bones and joints remain strong only through physical activity. Bone growth is stimulated by muscle contractions and the pressure exerted during exercise. If this stimulus is lacking, the tissue breaks down and the bone becomes brittle. The same applies to joints: a lack of movement leads to wear and tear. Running and jumping are therefore healthier than simply putting your feet up and relaxing. Women in particular face an increased risk of osteoporosis after menopause and therefore need regular exercise as a preventive measure.

Through exercise, we energize our bodies and minds and restore balance. After all, those who go about their daily lives without exercise become more susceptible to stress, feel out of balance, and get sick more often. Exercise is therefore essential for our health and well-being. Studies even show that people who are physically inactive and sit for more than eight hours a day have an 80 percent higher risk of death.

Even in youth, exercise paves the way for a healthy and mentally balanced life. That’s why it’s so important to encourage children’s natural urge to move, rather than leaving them glued to the TV or a tablet. After all, those who weren’t allowed to really let off steam as children often find it difficult to lead an active life as adults.

Incidentally, a varied exercise program that includes endurance, strength, coordination, and flexibility is ideal. Those who train too one-sidedly risk physical ailments. A good mix, for example, would be moderate endurance training three times a week and strength training twice a week. So, if you do strength training, you should also go jogging, biking, or swimming and stretch your muscles regularly. On the other hand, if you love going on long bike rides, you can strengthen your muscles with a few push-ups and sit-ups.

When it comes to exercise, many people only think about what it does to the body. But the mind also benefits from regular physical activity. Here are the most important benefits of exercise:

• It strengthens the heart and lungs.
• Muscles are built.
• Exercise increases bone density and protects against osteoporosis.
• Regular exercise lowers blood sugar levels.
• Exercise helps lower high blood pressure.
• Exercise has a positive effect on cholesterol levels.
• Joint wear and tear is reduced.
• Cell walls remain elastic.
• Exercise slows down the aging process.
• The number of immune cells in the blood increases.
• Recreational athletes lower their risk of cancer by about 20 to 30 percent.
• The brain receives a better blood supply and more oxygen.
• Exercise promotes the formation of new nerve cells and boosts brain function.
• Exercise releases neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine.
• At the same time, the stress hormone cortisol is reduced.
• Exercise strengthens mental well-being and has an antidepressant effect.

The list goes on—it should convince even the biggest exercise skeptic that regular physical activity is good for both body and mind. Last but not least, exercise improves how you feel about your body, boosts your self-confidence, stimulates your metabolism, and gives you energy for the day. When you go for a jog or a bike ride, you can clear your head wonderfully and unwind more easily after a stressful day at work. Regular exercise even improves your sleep.

In addition, active people usually recover more quickly after an illness or injury and get back into shape faster. The immune system works more effectively, and thanks to good blood circulation, the mucous membranes alone help ward off pathogens. As we age, regular exercise and strength training even help prevent falls and thus reduce the risk of injury.

The term “recreational exercise” encompasses various physical activities that promote both physical and mental health. The goal is to gently strengthen muscles, build endurance, or improve mental well-being. It is therefore not about competition or achieving high performance. Health-oriented sports primarily serve the purposes of prevention, rehabilitation, therapy, and relaxation. It is therefore particularly recommended for injuries to muscles, bones, or joints; back problems; cardiovascular diseases; or for stress prevention.

Many clubs, institutions, and fitness centers offer classes that not only promote general fitness but also maintain, restore, or improve health in a way that is gentle on the joints and involves controlled exertion, such as

• spinal exercises
• Coronary exercise
• Relaxation techniques
• Fascia training
• Osteoporosis prevention
• Pelvic floor training
• Balance & Stabilization
• Nordic Walking
• Stretching
• Pilates
• Yoga

These activities are primarily aimed at people with health impairments, but they also serve as preventive health measures to ward off illness. Trained instructors demonstrate exercises specifically designed to improve posture, stabilize joints, or enhance flexibility. They also provide tips for daily life that anyone can easily put into practice at home.

Since our modern lifestyle runs completely counter to the body’s natural urge to move, health-oriented exercise is no longer aimed solely at seniors or people with injuries and illnesses. These days, even younger people with sedentary lifestyles and predominantly desk-bound jobs complain of muscle tension, back pain, and herniated discs. Health-oriented exercise is therefore intended for anyone who gets little exercise in daily life and whose musculoskeletal system has become misaligned due to prolonged sitting. As a result of increasing comfort, muscles atrophy, endurance declines, and the body becomes more susceptible to illness. Preventive health-oriented exercise counteracts all of this and significantly improves quality of life and well-being by reducing pain and increasing mobility.

Moderate exercise is generally healthy. However, there are some sports that carry a low risk of injury, do not put excessive strain on the joints, and build endurance without exceeding one’s physical limits.

Beginners and people with physical limitations can maintain or improve their fitness with the following healthy sports:

• Walking
• Jogging
• Cycling
• Swimming
• Hiking
• Gymnastics
• Table tennis
• Dancing
• Squash

Even just taking a brisk walk three times a week gets your blood flowing. There’s really no excuse for those who aren’t into sports to avoid physical activity, because anyone can manage a walk around the block. It’s best to pick your favorite sport and join a group. Exercising together is twice as fun, and you won’t even notice the effort. Plus, you can push each other and motivate one another to keep going.

Everyone has different reasons for exercising:

• Fun: Most people feel an inner urge to be active because otherwise they feel out of balance. Going for a jog, taking a bike ride, swimming a few laps at the pool, or simply dancing to a playlist—most people naturally enjoy being active because it’s just fun. That wonderful feeling after exercising—the “runner’s high”—that glorious sense of exhaustion and the good mood it brings keep driving people to exercise again and again—even if it sometimes takes a bit of effort to head to the gym after a long day at work.
• Performance-Oriented Mindset: Then there are the competitive athletes who have a competitive spirit in their blood, who see sports as a challenge to push themselves to their limits time and again, who seek to measure themselves against others, and who want to bring out the best in themselves through discipline and hard training.
• Appearance: A toned body is considered aesthetically pleasing these days and is the motivation for many to exercise more. Visible muscles, a flat stomach, and a well-shaped butt are the goals of strength training and a healthy lifestyle. Self-improvement is one of the dominant themes today, and exercise is a proven way to lose or maintain weight.
• Common Sense: Then there are those who exercise out of common sense. They know that the body needs movement. Without regular endurance training and targeted muscle-building, your back aches, your joints hurt, and you simply feel out of shape and uncomfortable. For them, exercise is a preventive measure that they carry out as a matter of routine.
• Therapy: And then there are those who have to force themselves to every workout—people who are actually too lazy to put on their running shoes or do their strength training. They exercise on doctor’s orders because they already suffer from illnesses or injuries, and the only way to manage their symptoms is through regular exercise.

No matter what your motivation is: the main thing is that you exercise regularly so you can stay healthy, fit, and active well into old age. If exercise has been more of a chore than a pleasure for you so far, find a sport that you enjoy. The selection at clubs and gyms is huge. It’s best to meet up with friends—that way, your workout routine has a social side to it and puts you in a good mood.

If, on the other hand, you already see exercise as a chore to stay in shape and maintain your figure, you should rethink your workout plan for the sake of your health. After all, training too intensely without any fun can have a negative impact on both your body and your mind.

Sitting is the new smoking, because sedentary days at the office are truly toxic to the body. In fact, sitting too much has even surpassed smoking as the number one health risk. If you don’t exercise and spend your entire day on the couch, in an office chair, or in the car, you increase your risk of diseases and damage to the musculoskeletal system. In addition, your brain functions less effectively, and mental health issues can also arise.

Typical diseases and ailments that are exacerbated by a chronic lack of physical activity:

• High blood pressure
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Shortness of breath
• Susceptibility to infections
• Allergies
• Type 2 diabetes
• Weight gain
• Back pain
• Muscle tension
• Muscle loss
• Joint wear
• Thrombosis
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Concentration problems
• Decline in performance
• Bad mood
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Dementia

Even if you take just a two-week break from exercise, you’ll feel the negative effects of inactivity. Climbing stairs becomes much more tiring, you run out of breath even with minimal exertion, that case of water feels incredibly heavy, and you gain weight surprisingly quickly. After four weeks without exercise, muscle tissue begins to break down; after eight weeks, your body starts storing fat in your cells. That’s why it’s important to get moving and stick with it! Exercise changes your life for the better and is the best medicine for many minor ailments.