Key takeaways

  • Physical activity that combines cardio and strength training has many benefits. One particular benefit includes strengthening your bones while building muscle mass. This can help prevent injury and conditions like osteoporosis, especially as you age.
  • Engaging in regular movement can support brain and mental health, including elevating your mood and potentially slowing age-related cognitive decline. It can also improve sleep quality and reduce chronic pain over time.
  • Consistent exercise also has many advantages for heart health and maintaining a moderate weight. It is linked to a reduced risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions.

Exercise is defined as any movement that makes your muscles work and requires your body to burn calories.

Being active has been shown to have many health benefits, both physically and mentally. It may even help you live longerTrusted Source.

Here are the top 10 ways regular exercise benefits your body and brain.

This article is Day 25 of Healthline’s 30 Days of Movement Challenge. Learn more about how you can build long-lasting fitness habits through quick and accessible exercises by following the Challenge.

Research has shown that exercise may improve your mood and decrease feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress.

The authors of a 2025 study reported that moderate exercise of 10 to 30 minutes is effective at improving mood.

Exercise may increase levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. These hormones help regulate mood, including decreasing feelings of depression. Physical activity may also increase the release of endorphins, which help produce positive feelings and reduce the perception of pain.

Stopping exercise may also affect your mood and mental health. A small 2022 study observed that when regularly active people stopped exercise for just 2 weeks, they reported an increase in symptoms related to depression, anxiety, and other mood conditions.

Inactivity can play a major role in weight gain and obesity, which may lead to health complications. Exercise can help you maintain a moderate weight by increasing energy expenditure, also known as spending.

Your body spends energy in three ways:

  • digesting food
  • exercising
  • maintaining body functions, like your heartbeat and breathing

A calorie deficit is key to burning fat. However, your metabolic rate — the speed at which you burn fat — may slowTrusted Source with time in a calorie deficit and as you lose weight. This can delay further weight loss. Regular exercise may increaseTrusted Source your metabolic rate. This can burn more calories and help you manage your weight.

Combining aerobic (cardio) exercise with resistance training can also maximize fat loss while maintaining or building muscle mass. This is known as body recomposition, which could help you maintain lean muscle and reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease.

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Physical activity plays a vital role in building and maintaining strong muscles and bones.

As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass, strength, and function. This increases the risk of injury. Regular physical activity is essential to reducing muscle loss and maintaining strength as you age.

Exercise also helps build bone density. The authors of a 2022 reviewTrusted Source reported that regular exercise significantly improved bone density in the lumbar spine, neck, and hip bones. This may help prevent osteoporosis later in life.

Impact exercises like jumping rope, running, plyometric exercises, or soccer may help promoteTrusted Source higher bone density than low impact sports like swimming and cycling.

Exercise may help boost your energy levelsTrusted Source and reduce fatigue. Individualized activity plans can even be helpful as a complementary treatment for many health conditions, such as cancer.

Aerobic exercise boosts your cardiovascular system and improves lung health, which may help with energy levels.

As you move, your heart pumps more blood, delivering more oxygen to your working muscles. With regular exercise, your heart becomes more efficientTrusted Source at moving oxygen into your blood.

Over time, exercise also places less demand on your lungs. This is one of the reasons why you may find yourself getting less and less out of breath with time, according to the American Lung Association.

Regular physical activity is an essential factorTrusted Source in reducing your risk of many chronic diseases, such as:

Inflammation from oxidative stress can affect your skin. Oxidative stress occurs when your body’s antioxidant defenses cannot completely repair the cell damage caused by compounds known as free radicals. It can damage cell structure and negatively affect your skin.

Intense and exhaustive physical activity may contribute to oxidative damage. However, a 2024 review suggests that moderate exercise may actually help alleviate the stress caused by free radicals.

The authors of a 2021 review also concluded that regular exercise may help delay the appearance of skin aging, prevent psoriasis, and improve venous leg ulcers.

Exercise can improve brain function and protect your memory and thinking skills.

To begin with, exercise promotes the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain. It can also stimulate the production of hormones that enhance the growth of brain cells, and reduce inflammation from oxidative stress.

For example, exercise has been reportedTrusted Source to increase the hippocampus’ size, which may help improve mental function. The hippocampus is a part of the brain that’s vital for memory and learning.

Regular physical activity is also important for older adults because it can help slow down age-related cognitive decline and improve cognitive function in aging. It may also help reduce the risk of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia.

Regular exercise can help you relaxTrusted Source and sleep better.

Physical activity may improve your sleep quality as the energy loss that occurs during exercise stimulates restorative processesTrusted Source during sleep.

Also, the increase in your body temperature during exercise may help it dropTrusted Source during sleep, which could promote better sleep.

A 2026 analysis of seven studies reported that physical activity linked to improved sleep time and quality, plus taking less time to fall asleep. Exercise types included in the studies ranged from aerobic and resistance exercises to tai chi and water activities.

From Our Editors

“We all know that regular exercise has myriad benefits for physical and mental health, but it’s important to carve out time for self-care, too — not just for physical recovery, but also mental well-being. Regardless of your fitness level, balance is key. For instance, mind-body practices like gentle or hatha yoga can be a wonderful complement to a higher-intensity workout regimen”

— Andrea Rice, Editor

Quotes represent individual opinions. All content is strictly informational and should not be considered medical advice.

Chronic pain can be debilitating. For many years, the recommendation for treating chronic pain was rest and inactivity.

However, many researchers, including the authors of this 2021 reviewTrusted Source, suggest that exercise may serve as a natural treatment for pain relief and improved quality of life.

One way exercise may help prevent or reduce chronic pain is through its possible pain-relieving effects and ability to increase pain toleranceTrusted Source over time. It can also help with other impacts of chronic pain, such as stress and sleep problems.

Exercise may help you manage chronic painTrusted Source associated with various health conditions, including:

  • chronic low back pain
  • fibromyalgia
  • arthritis

Talk with your medical team for tailored advice about being active while managing a chronic pain condition.

The use of binary terms such as “female” and “male” or “women” and “men” in this article reflects the language of the sources we’ve used. Unless otherwise noted, it’s unclear whether the research we reference included participants with expansive gender identities.

Regular exercise may help improve your sex lifeTrusted Source.

Engaging in regular exercise can strengthen your heart, improve blood circulation, tone muscles, and enhance flexibility, all of which may help during sexual activity.

A 2018 reviewTrusted Source suggests that regular exercise may help improve sexual satisfaction, arousal, and well-being in women. Regular resistance training may also help increase sex driveTrusted Source.

A 2023 review of 12 trials also reported that consistent aerobic exercise may help improve erectile function.

Generally, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults get at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity and at least 2 days a week of muscle-strengthening activity targeting all major muscle groups.

The WHO adds that older adults should also do physical activities that build balance and strength on 3 or more days a week.

It’s important to let your body recover between intense exercise sessions. That said, you may be able to do light to moderate-intensity activity every day, varying between resistance and cardiovascular activities, to help you reach 300 minutes per week. These activities may include walking, cycling, dancing, pilates, and weighted exercises.

According to experts like the British Heart Foundation, you can’t target one specific area of fat to burn off. But a consistent mixture of aerobic exercise, resistance training, and eating a well-balanced diet can help you burn fat all over your body. Some exercises include swimming, yoga, running, strength training, and rock climbing.

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Takeaway

Exercise offers incredible benefits that can improve nearly every aspect of your health. Regular physical activity can increase the production of hormones that make you feel happier and help you sleep better.

Moderate-intensity aerobic activity is anything that gets your heart beating faster, like walking, cycling, or swimming. Activities like running or participating in a fitness class count for vigorous intensity.

You can use weights, resistance bands, or your body weight to perform muscle-strengthening exercises.