I know, most of us were too busy watching the latest episodes of the Bachelor Pad to find time to work out this week.  But we should, right?  Today, Pasha Lubeck, a health buff and single mother of two young boys, tells us why we should exercise regularly. 

One of the classic excuses people give for not exercising is the lack of time. As workaholic career women, we subconsciously neglect the most important asset for us to reach our goals in life – our health. As a career woman myself, juggling time between my daily workload and my wonderful kids (I’m a single mom, by the way) gives me almost zero opportunity to take care of myself.

But I have realized that part of balancing my day-to-day activities means keeping myself healthy. This is because my physical and mental health has a direct effect on the outcome of what I do in my professional and personal lives. Staying healthy is actually one of the most important things I can do for my career and my life.

[Related Post: 15 Pilates Exercises for Beginners]

Here are 5 ways working out & staying healthy can improve your life:

1. Lack of exercise can increase your risk of getting a heart disease. We already know this. Doctors have told us. TV shows have told us. It’s no longer a surprise that working out is good for your cardio. We experience a lot of stress at work and at home, and this kind of stress can have an adverse effect in our heart. According to the Mayo Clinic website, getting the habit of a regular exercise for at least 30 minutes every day can greatly reduce your chances of having a heart disease.  Combining this with healthy food intake and lifestyle can provide you with even more favorable result. Here’s the good news: you don’t have to actually go to the gym to do your daily workout. There are various everyday activities that you can perform to accomplish this. Walking the dog, taking the stairs instead of the elevator or the escalator, walking instead of commuting or driving – these can all work for your own health benefit.

2. Exercise can help you control stress. Stress, whether we like it or not, is a constant part of our daily lives. One of the best ways of relieving stress is by working out. It eases the tension in your muscles and relaxes your brain. The website Holisticonline.com tells us that exercise is a good way for us to vent our negative feelings and emotions, such as anger, disappointment and bad temper, and replaces them with good vibes and positive disposition. Of course, make sure that the workout routine you choose is something that you enjoy. With exercise, we focus on what we like to do; we tend to rest our brain from worrying and give it time to repair itself, which, in the long run, helps us cope with stress.

3. Exercise and staying healthy can improve your concentration and mental alertness. Because you know how to manage everyday stress which results in a healthy state of mind and positive well-being, your concentration and alertness also improve. You become sharper and more focused in performing your daily tasks if you have a worry-free lifestyle. The health benefits of exercise and how it positively affects the brain is discussed on the website of The Franklin Institute. According to their studies, bodily movement and physical exercise boost oxygen intake and heart rate which results in more blood circulation to the brain. Simple exercises, such as walking, are not strenuous to the leg muscles which mean more blood supply to the brain. This is why we feel more focused and alert after a good workout.

4. Exercise can make you look younger. Learning to live in a stress-controlled environment and having a positive outlook in life can definitely reflect on your physical attributes. A worry-free life can make you look years younger that your actual age. According to an article on UK’s The Sunday Times, a study shows that active adults can look younger by up to nine years compared to inactive ones. This is probably the result of a lower risk of illnesses such as heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer which can be prevented through regular exercise.

5. Exercise can help you find a job. If you are spending a lot of your day searching for a job, you should definitely incorporate working out into your daily routine. Working out can help you improve your confidence, which will help you nail your next interview and make you more confident when networking with your future boss!

A healthy lifestyle can do wonders in your everyday life. It does not only provide you with a positive energy to whatever you do for a living, it also immensely affects your relationship to other people – be it at work or at home. With these reasons, one has absolutely no excuse why he/she should not start working out today!

How does staying healthy improve your life?