Description

Picture yourself working out. Are youliftingheavy weights? Stretching your muscles? Or maybe you'reperformingan activity that causes you to sweat and breathe hard,that makesyour blood pump through your veins as it carries oxygento yourmuscles to keep you going. If you're performing this lastactivity,then you're engaging in aerobic exercise.

Aerobic exercise is any physical activity that makes yousweat,causes you to breathe harder, and gets your heart beatingfasterthan at rest. It strengthens your heart and lungs and trainsyourcardiovascular system to manage and deliver oxygen more quicklyandefficiently throughout your body. Aerobic exercise uses yourlargemuscle groups, is rhythmic in nature, and can bemaintainedcontinuously for at least 10 minutes.

Before going into the benefits of aerobic exercise, let'sbreakdown some key terms we just mentioned. Cardiovascular systemismade up of your heart and blood vessels e.g., arteries, veins,andcapillaries that transports blood throughout the body.Aerobicrefers to how your body uses oxygen to sufficiently meetenergydemands during exercise.
Benefits of Aerobic Exercise

In addition to strengthening your heart andcardiovascularsystem, participation in regular aerobic exercise hasmany healthbenefits. Aerobic exercise:

Improves your circulation and helps your body useoxygenbetter
Increases energy
Increases endurance, which means you can workout longerwithoutgetting tired
Helps reduce the risk of developing heart disease
Helps reduce the risk of developing diabetes
Helps reduce body fat
Helps you reach and maintain a healthy weight
Helps reduce stress, tension, anxiety, and depression
Improves sleep