“You should really exercise to keep your bones and body healthy.”

“You should exercise to be in shape and look good!”

“You should workout to have a healthy and a good lifestyle.”

We are surrounded by all this but have we ever wondered what our body could go through when we stop working out or if we stay inactive for long? No right? We are often surrounded by people who tell us about the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of exercising and working out but only a few would tell you to keep that going and not give up on the process and the goals. It’s very important to understand your body as it’s the most important place you live in.

It’s okay if you can’t workout almost everyday but if you stop exercising or reduce your physical activity suddenly, your body will go through certain biological and negative impacts on your body. However, this is very much different from rest days as you do that to give some time for your muscles and body to recover and get ready for another blast.

Here are a few changes that you can experience if you stop working out or remain inactive for long periods of time:

  1. Muscle shrinkage: When you stop working out for a long time, your muscles start to shrink and the muscle mass starts decreasing. It has been proved that your body burns more calories in maintaining the muscles. The more muscles you build the more your body will burn calories in maintaining them. You give a message to your muscles that they are needed everyday and hence they grow in size. The moment you stop sweating out, they shrink back as they realize they have grown big for no reason.
  1. Increased stress levels: Why do you feel good after working out? It is because your body releases endorphins to make you feel good and energised. When you workout, you feel more active, positive and enthusiastic. Whereas, if you stop exercising, you are more likely to have high stress levels and frequent mood swings.I will be honest- The more you stay active the better your approach towards your daily challenges.
  1. Hard to sleep: It has been observed that people who stay active the entire day tend to have a better sleep than the ones who stay inactive. Sitting in front of the screen for hours or sloughing the entire day will just result in restless and difficult sleeping patterns.
  1. Reduced Endurance: When you are inactive for long periods of time, the amount of oxygen used by our muscles keeps on decreasing. As a result, our endurance also decreases when we remain inactive for longer periods of time.
  1. More Cravings: When you workout, you have good control over your eating habits and cravings. We tend to practise mindful eating and follow a healthy diet. When we stop working out, we tend to get less conscious of what we are eating and thus tend to eat more than what is required.
  1. Weight gain: When you stop working out for long, your body starts experiencing changes. As a result your metabolism goes down and so does the power of your muscles to burn your calories. Thus, you start gaining weight.

It’s very easy for us to get into bad habits and slouch all day long. You just take a few seconds to break a habit but a month's time to build one. Invest in yourself and don’t let anything stop you from getting fit and staying healthy. If you would have made it till now then definitely you would have been convinced and motivated to have an active lifestyle. Don’t let anything stop you from achieving your goals and leading a healthy lifestyle!

Stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy!

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