Your lifestyle habits help you live a longer, healthier life in many cases. But getting out there and doing Pilates regularly, jogging, walking, lifting weights, or whatever it is you do to stay active is also a boost to your confidence and helps bring a smile to your face as you’re learning, improving, exerting energy, releasing endorphins, and achieving a better body. Using programs like Lift Silver Lake & Pilates by Nadia, you won’t just find the resources you need to exercise, but you’ll also find a healthier, happier you, filled with support and encouragement.
Releasing Endorphins and Affecting Neurotransmitters
Common myth: the only exercise that does any good for your brain and mind are ones that are moderate to high impact. You know? The ones where you’re running, swimming laps, or shooting basketball.
Those aren’t the only physical activities that are beneficial to you. Pilates — yes, the low-impact exercise — can have a similar impact. Particularly when you’re doing Pilates regularly or challenging yourself to improve, your body responds to this physical activity by releasing endorphins. These “feel-good” chemicals in the brain can improve your mood. They’re good at helping you manage anxiety and can even reduce your perception of pain.
Besides endorphins, Pilates engages your muscles, breathing, and focus, which stimulates your mind and affects GABA activity, which has a calming effect. It also influences serotonin, which can elevate your mood, relax you, and help with learning, memory, sleep, and sexual function.
Dopamine is also on the list of neurotransmitters impacted by Pilates. This neurotransmitter plays a role in motivation and reward.
Helping You Achieve Goals
Setting a goal and striving to achieve it is good for your ego. You get a sense of accomplishment, and this goes back to the neurotransmitter concept. When you set your sights on a particular achievement and take steps to reach it, your brain releases dopamine as a reward. You then feel satisfied and continue to want to feel that way.
It becomes motivation. Your brain recognizes what caused you to feel this way, so you’ll continuously want to challenge yourself in your Pilates sessions with Lift Silver Lake & Pilates by Nadia. Essentially, goal setting and achievement become habit.
While not always talked about enough, achieving your goals can be a huge boost for your confidence. You get the feeling that you can do just about anything you put your mind to, and that can carry over to other aspects of your life, such as your career.
Obtaining a Better Body
Pilates isn’t necessarily a weight reducer. If you’re looking to manage your weight, you’ll also want to add cardiovascular exercise into your routine. However, Pilates will work your muscles in your abs, hips, pelvic region, and lower back to give your body more definition. You’ll ultimately feel better about the way you look when you do this exercise.
Learning a New Hobby
Whether you’re doing Pilates for the first time, improving on what you already know, or taking on other types of physical activity, when you’re learning something new, you’ll feel better about yourself. You develop confidence, meet new people, and find something that’s fulfilling in your life. It’s even good for your brain to have a new hobby.
Improving Flexibility, Balance, and Coordination
Besides feeling better about the way you look, you’ll also improve coordination, balance, and flexibility, which will make you happier with yourself. It gives you a feeling of a job well done and allows you to age more gracefully.
You’ll be doing things the average person your age can’t, which can ensure you get to live your best life and enjoy as many things as possible. Ultimately, you’ll have more stamina to do more, whether that’s for work or play.
Though this aspect might not be something that brings you immediate joy, improving balance, flexibility, and coordination helps prevent falls and injuries. You then won’t have to worry about the doctor’s bills that come with them, nor the time off from work or your life in general.
Those aches and pains you’re used to won’t be as frequent or as severe when you’re improving these aspects of your health.
Enhancing Your Health
You should ideally do 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week at minimum to keep your cardiovascular system functioning optimally, which also spills over to other parts of your health, including brain function, mental health, sleep, and more.
For resistance exercise, there’s not a specific time limit, as reps and sets can take people different amounts of time. However, at least two times per week, you should be doing some sort of weight training. Many types of Pilates actually fit that bill. One of those days, you could do Pilates and the other day you can do a workout at a gym. And two days per week isn’t a strict limit. You can build muscle more than that, too, as long as you’re giving your body time to rest.
All of this physical exertion can keep your health and wellness in check. You’ll be more resilient and be able to perform activities with more ease, making your life easier overall. You may get sick less and have fewer health problems in general, possibly extending your life.
Overall, when you’re healthier, you’ll be more confident because you’ll have fewer times when you’re not feeling up to par. Feeling better most of the time also leads you to feeling like you can tackle more in life.
Smiling More Has Advantages
The people you know will instantly see a difference. And fun fact — smiling is actually positive for your health, even when you’re not smiling because you’re happy. It has all the following benefits:
- Releases feel-good chemicals
- Lowers stress
- Decreases blood pressure and heart rate
- Helps with mental health
Supporting Oral Health
This one sounds like a bit of a reach, but there’s some science behind it. Yes, you’ll 100% smile more when you’re healthy and happy.
In addition to that, though, you’ll improve your heart health, so your circulation will improve, including to your gums. When you feel better about yourself, you’ll be more likely to take the initiative to keep your teeth clean and gums healthy through at-home dental hygiene practices and go to the dentist regularly for cleanings and care.
Developing or maintaining active lifestyle habits, such as going to Lift Silver Lake & Pilates by Nadia, helps promote better health and wellness. You’ll smile more and feel better about yourself. You might even find that all the physical activity you’re getting will uplift you and make you want to do better for yourself in general, such as with your oral health.
Recent Comments