What Effect Does Exercise Have on the Body - Essay Example

'What Effect Does Exercise Have on the Body' is a good example of a paper on fitness and exercise.
A key benefit of exercise is that it helps normalize the glucose level in the blood by stimulating the insulin and leptin receptors’sensitivity; this way it effectively optimizes one’s health and prevents chronic disease. In addition to this, there are several more direct effects to the muscles, lungs heart, and even the brain which one gets from exercise.  Muscles use glucose APT for contraction and movement and when is exercising he/she needs oxygen to create the ATP; therefore, the breathing increases so that the heart pumps more blood into the muscles. During and after physical exercise one tends to feel pain in the concerned muscle groups, this is because small tears form in them as they grow bigger and stronger (Irwin et al., 2009). During exercise, the muscles require around fifteen times more oxygen than they do when one is resting therefore the more one works out the more their lung's capacity for holding air increases.

As mentioned above, the heart rate increases along with the rate of one’s physical activity as engaging in exercise, the harder and longer a person exercises the stronger their heart muscles become. Therefore, with more exercise, and an individual can work longer and harder since the heart becomes more efficient. In addition, with the heart becoming more efficient the resting heart rate will reduce since the heart pumps a lot of blood with less effort.  The strain of pumping blood will also cause blood pressure to go down since new blood vessels are formed when one is active. The increase in blood flow is also very beneficial to the brain; in fact, it almost starts to function better immediately, which helps one become more focused on their day-to-day tasks after just a few minutes of exercise. In addition, regular workouts help one grow new blood-brain cells, which increase their capacity for learning and memory in the short, run (Nassis et al., 2005). It has been suggested that when one works out regularly, their brain gets used to sudden surges of blood effectively turning off some genes, such changes tend to protect the body from conditions such as Parkinson’s, Stroke, or even Alzheimer’s and ward off age-related decline. Exercise also triggers the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins as serotonins which are known for their role in mood control and which have been found to be effective in treating depression and other mental conditions related to stress (Stein, 2005).

Exercise is also very good for bones joints and bones since as they work out, they can place as much as six times their body weight on them, which significantly improves their load-carrying capacity (Irwin et al., 2009).  Peak bone mass is normally achieved at adulthood then starts to decline as one grows older, however with exercise one can maintain healthy bone mass even as they age.  Furthermore, weight-bearing exercise has been proven to be among the most effective remedies for osteoporosis and a variety of other joint problems that emerge as a result of porous bones with low density. Ergo when once exercises, they are effectively preparing their joints and bones to carry them when their muscles start to weaken and they are unable to keep up an exercise regimen as they grow older.