Exercise, or any sort of physical activity makes everything feel good. In this fabulous weather, being outdoors, and a little more active than normal, is a recipe for happiness.

It’s very rare we come home from a walk, run or gym session and regret going. Even 15-20 minutes of exercise makes me feel like I’ve earned my rest on the couch a little more that evening. And anything’s better than nothing.
What’s it all about? Exercise, as many of us now know thanks to science, releases a hormone called endorphins. These are your feel good hormone. These hormones are also known as your pain reducing hormones. What could be better than more of those little guys working through your system?
Thanks to science again, we are now more certain than ever that exercise, or physical activity like taking the stairs instead of the lift, has health benefits related to chronic diseases.

An article in the Journal of Applied Physiology 2000 by Frank W Booth et al. states:

“We know of no single intervention with greater promise than physical exercise to reduce the risk of virtually all chronic diseases simultaneously”.

How powerful is this statement!
So exercise makes us happier and can reduce pain. The beauty of it all, it’s free! You just need to prioritise time to do a 10-15 minute session initially. Which you can build in time. As soon as you start seeing and feeling the benefits it’ll be hard to stop and get any work done!
Exercise comes in many different forms so find something that gets you off the chair and challenges you a little. An instructional video from a Chartered Physiotherapist is a good place to start. I have 9 beginners’ yoga videos on YouTube including a video on back care. There’s many more to come this summer! Have a great summer, get moving and live life to the full of your abilities! Enjoy.

This article was originally on RTE Lifestyle: http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2016/0524/790527-exercise-makes-everything-feel-better/