Why Cardio Matters

Bri Repetto

It’s like the thought of pulling teeth, some people just don’t like cardio. It’s hard, but a good workout should be. Challenging yourself and pushing your body to new lengths can provide good benefits like stronger heart health, greater brain function, and even more. If you are trying to convince yourself to start doing more cardio in your routine, I can tell you a few reasons why that is an amazing idea.

To set the basis, cardio or cardiovascular activity, is a type of exercise that elevates your heart rate and keeps it elevated. This raise in heart rate reaches your target heart rate zone. This is where you’ll burn the most fat and calories. Good examples of cardio are running, swimming, and cycling. Doing these types of aerobic exercises, meaning that oxygen is used in the body as fuel, can help lower your chance of cardiovascular disease which is currently the leading cause of death around the world. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services advises from 150 to 300 minutes of moderate cardio exercise like walking, or 75 to 150 minutes of higher intensity activity like running. If you are just starting your fitness journey then doing light-intensity activity can even provide immediate benefits. Understandably, if you are not used to doing cardio or do very little, it can be hard at first and you may run out of breath quicker than you would like. However, because you are working harder, the more you will start to see improvements because the heart and lungs are strengthening to be more efficient for you.

Your heart is a muscle and the more you focus on it, the stronger it becomes. This increase of strength means better blood flow around your body. The reason why this is good is because your blood delivers oxygen to your cells. In turn, your muscles get better access to more oxygen allowing them to work harder for longer periods of time, therefore your endurance is gradually improved. Your brain receives more oxygen so that your mind can become sharper, cognitive tasks become easier, and memory improves. This was proven  in a 2019 study where the researchers noticed that long term exercise decreased memory loss in middle aged men. The brain also sees a reduction of inflammation and decrease of stress hormones. Even your skin reaps the benefits because the increased blood flow can reduce the appearance of aging and make it appear clearer. People with eczema see improvement because of the reduction of such stress hormones which eases the condition. 

The reduction of stress levels is due in part to the higher levels of endorphins you get from working out. These types of hormones allow you to feel better and improve your mood. In 2019, a team of researchers discovered that exercise can be used to help improve major depression. They discovered that exercising three times a week for 12-24 weeks showed a medium to large reduction in people’s depression. Furthermore, they noticed that exercise was more beneficial than treatments to put people in remission from depression. 

Another benefit to cardio, improved sleep. Are you having trouble going to sleep and seeing signs of insomnia? A good aid to resolve this issue is, of course, aerobic exercise. To prove this point, there was a study done in 2013 on how exercise helps sleep insomnia. They studied 11 women who had the condition and had them do 30 minutes of aerobic exercises three times a week for 16 weeks. What they discovered was the sleep quality improved over the course of the study. It was also found that the better they were able to sleep, the better they were able to workout the next day. This leads to a positive effect where both working out and sleep help promote the other. Cardio also promotes REM sleep which is needed to help memory and brain development, you also dream in this stage of sleep. The only catch is if you workout too close to going to bed, your heart rate can be too elevated and can keep you awake. This means plan your workouts accordingly, no one wants to be up all night after doing wind-sprints or a hard cycling session. 

I mentioned how stress levels can be improved due to cardio. Something that follows along with stress is high blood pressure. This can be a very serious issue and it should be taken care of however your doctor recommends. If they suggest regular exercise though, trust me that is a good treatment plan. High blood pressure is also known as hypertension. What hypertension can do is cause heart attacks, stroke, aneurysms, heart failure, or dementia. Doing cardio can provide immediate effects for about 24 hours. This is due to a few things mentioned before, lower stress levels and higher endorphins. Something I notice when I workout however is the fact that my mind is refocused. I don’t worry about school or work, it’s like my thought process is set to gym mode and I am just worried about how many sets I have left and what I plan to do next. This helps me to destress and calm my heart rate from what usually causes it to stumble. 

In all, don’t think of cardio as scary or evil. It may be hard to push yourself to do it, trust me I go through that battle too. However, I focus on the benefits I know I am going to receive. Improved memory, decrease in stress, and helping to prevent high blood pressure are great tradeoffs to receive for just a couple minutes of running or cycling. Try easing yourself into it and take notice of how much better your body starts to feel.