It’s no secret that life these days is getting expensive. Everything from rent and interest rates to your Friday pizza have jumped in price, while wages have remained stagnant. This leaves many of us making hard choices about where to cut back on expenses. For some, a gym membership is a cost they regrettably have to cut. We wouldn’t want to tell you how to best navigate the rising cost of living, but we can hopefully help you make an informed decision when it comes to assessing whether or not exercise is an expense worth keeping.
The immediate physical benefits of exercise are well known: you look and feel good. However, it’s the deeper, often overlooked benefits that are arguably more important. Here are some examples of what exercise can do for you:
- Decrease levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as a lower risk of chronic diseases.
- Enhance sleep quality, boost immune function, even stimulate creativity, memory and cognitive function.
- Improve longevity, with those who make exercise a fixture of their lives tending to live longer and enjoy a better quality of life, with fewer health issues.
These examples highlight a long list of benefits, which continues to expand as research deepens our understanding of physical activity’s impact on the human body.
Exercise is challenging, time consuming, and can sometimes feel like a chore or even a luxury. For those reasons, it’s often easy to forget about its importance. However, when assessing your budget, it’s always worth considering the true value of staying active.
If you find yourself wondering if fitness is an expense you can’t afford, know that your decision to invest in your health will pay priceless dividends in the long run!
