Whether you love it or hate it, exercise is an essential part of life and has the power to complement our overall health and well-being in countless ways. Most of us would be well aware of the simple stuff that a regular exercise routine gives us, keeping our weight under control, helping ward off chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, and heart disease and even helping our lungs to open up and function well, assisting to prevent nasties like colds and other types of lung infections. 

What if I told you a regular exercise routine can make you happier?

When you exercise your body increases its production of “happy chemicals” that is, it increases its production of endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline, and endocannabinoids, increasing your feelings of happiness and confidence and also diminishing feelings of anxiety and stress. What’s more, it has also been scientifically proven that a regular exercise routine and the increase of these “happy chemicals” can effectively be used to combat chronic pain. 

You heard me right… Regular exercise can even reduce physical pain felt by people with a huge variety of conditions. 

The phenomenal thing about exercise is that in varying forms, it’s beneficial to every single person notwithstanding age, race, sex, cultural background and of course, disability. 

It’s no secret that wheelchair users, by and large, suffer a much larger number of preventable health conditions due to the sedentary nature of sitting in a manual or power wheelchair. There, of course, is weight gain and its associated issues. For the overwhelming majority of wheelchair users who have little to no use of their legs, we are also missing out on being able to activate critical muscle groups used by our able-bodied counterparts to help us burn body fat, that is, our glutes, quads and hamstrings. 

We also feature far too highly in the stats related to lung conditions and deficiencies because when you sit down for large amounts of time we are also not allowing our lungs to inflate fully. 

Exercise doesn’t need to be slogging it out in the gym, it doesn’t need to be doing laps for hours on end in the pool. 

It can be leaving the car at home and pushing to drop your kids at school, it can be throwing a ball with your dog in the park and it can even be choosing to push to the shops for bread and milk. 

Whatever way you choose to stay fit and healthy, it doesn’t need to be a tedious task. Make sure you absolutely love it and enjoy the health and vitality.

About the author:

Adam Sheppard is a Motivational Speaker, Writer, Entrepreneur, Podcaster and Personal Trainer who is a full-time wheelchair user born with Spina Bifida and is also a bilateral above-knee amputee. Adam is based on the sunny Gold Coast and lives by the mantra “Say Yes More!” and is always on the hunt for new adventures and ways to extract every bit of fun life has to offer!