Maintaining an active lifestyle is important to living a long and healthy life. Doctors recommend at least 30 minutes of activity each day. Physical activity doesn’t just benefit our health; it also helps us become better adjusted and more productive.

When you participate in physical activity, even for a short period, blood flow to the brain is enhanced. The increased brain activity works to boost your energy levels, making you more alert and helps you to stay motivated throughout your day. By engaging in a short cardio workout in the morning, you’ll feel better throughout your day and you can avoid that midday lag.

Everyone has heard from doctors that physical activity and exercise keeps us healthy. It promotes better functioning of our organs, reduces inflammation, and strengthens our immune system. How does this make us more productive, though? By keeping us healthy, exercise and other forms of moderate to intense physical activity helps us stay on top of our game. We take less sick time and feel more like ourselves more often. It can also help us reduce the risks of degenerative diseases that might otherwise lessen the quality of our lives in later years.

In addition to keeping our bodies fit, exercise can also keep our brains functioning at peak efficiency and stave off the onset of mental illness and cognitive degeneration. You’re less likely to feel anxiety or depression, when you stay physically active. Physical activity promotes the release of serotonin in the brain, which is a neurotransmitter responsible for mood elevation and emotional control. Staying physically active keeps you in a more positive mental state and helps the body reduce stress, factors that work together to help you stay motivated and engaged in your life.

Certain conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, are hereditary, but lifestyle changes can help to reduce the risks of developing these conditions. Even when an individual is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, for instance, maintaining an active lifestyle is one way in which he can keep the condition managed. High blood pressure and obesity are just a few more conditions that can either be reversed or better controlled through regular physical activity. This helps you stay healthier overall and reduces the chances that you’ll have to be hospitalized or miss work for extended periods.