What are the benefits of aerobic exercise

If we want to give the most practical answer, the core benefit of long-term persistence in regular low- to medium-intensity aerobic exercise is to provide "long-term maintenance" of cardiopulmonary function, regulate metabolism, stabilize mood, and in the long run reduce the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases.

I used to have a friend who was doing back-end development. He was just over 32 years old. Not only did his triglycerides exceed the warning line during his physical examination last year, but he also had to take a breath for three to five minutes before running two steps on the subway or climbing the third floor to his workstation. Later, after listening to the doctor's advice, I walked around the neighborhood near my home every day when I got off work early. He walked briskly for 40 minutes in the park, and took a day on the weekend to ride a shared bicycle for more than ten kilometers. He didn't even quit milk tea, so he persisted for three months. He went for a review last week and found that his blood lipids had returned to the normal range. Last week, the company organized a hike in the hills in the suburbs. He carried two boxes of mineral water halfway up the mountain without feeling tired.

However, there are now many people on the Internet who say "aerobic to lose muscle", which scares many people who are in the muscle-building period and dare not do aerobic. In fact, we have to break it down and look at it. If you do high-intensity aerobic for two or three hours on an empty stomach every day, don't supplement enough protein, and don't do strength training, then your muscles will indeed be lost. However, for ordinary people, moderate and low-intensity aerobic exercise such as jogging, brisk walking, and swimming 3-5 times a week for 30 to 40 minutes each time will not lose muscle at all. On the contrary, it can improve the efficiency of blood circulation and deliver more nutrients to the muscles. If combined with strength training, the efficiency of muscle gain can be even higher.

You don’t need to deliberately chase how many kilometers or how fast you want to run. You can walk faster when you go for a walk around the community after get off work, go to the park with your family on weekends instead of taking a sightseeing bus, or even do aerobics for half an hour at home. As long as your heart rate remains between 60% and 70% of (220-age), which means you can talk normally but can’t sing loudly, it is already an effective aerobic exercise. Sometimes I change my plan until I feel confused, so I go downstairs and walk briskly for 20 minutes, get some air and then come back. The ideas that have been stuck for a long time are often solved immediately. It sounds like "relaxation", but in fact it is the result of aerobic stimulation of endorphin secretion, which is much more effective than drinking two cups of strong coffee.