We know that doing sport regularly brings great benefits to our organism. But what happens to our body when we do sport? Surely, especially if you play sport regularly, at some point you have wondered what happens to your body when you exercise that makes you feel so good.

Physical activity is inherent in human nature, we are designed to maintain a daily physical activity and our body expects it. If we don’t do it, there are alterations in our organism that can be more or less serious, depending on other factors such as the type of food and the lifestyle we lead.

It has been more than proven that regular exercise helps us to have good health and reduce the risk of many chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Recent studies show that people who practice sport regularly have lower mortality rates than those who are less active. A person who does not exercise is up to eight times more likely to have a heart attack than one who is physically fit.

When we exercise, and depending on the type of sport we practice, the sensations can be extremely antagonistic. But, apart from these incredible and unique sensations that exercise brings, a multitude of processes, most of them beneficial, are produced in our organism.

We start to sweat, the heart speeds up, the sympathetic nervous system is activated, the pulmonary ventilation increases, the metabolism speeds up, the blood pressure rises, the muscular arteries dilate to multiply their blood supply, the liver releases more glucose. Although some effects produced during the practice of physical activity can be uncomfortable, all of them are necessary.

Exercising regularly helps us to have good mental and physical health. When we exercise, our body seeks to evaporate water through the glands in our skin to try to lower our body temperature. Athletes, and people who do physical activity in general, should keep themselves properly hydrated to counteract the loss of fluid that occurs while exercising.

The pulsations are increased with the intention of pumping more blood into the body. If we practice regular exercise, we strengthen our cardiovascular system and make it more efficient, reducing pulsations and blood pressure with exercise.

When the heart rate increases, the muscles around the lungs work to their maximum capacity until we reach maximum oxygen consumption. The fitter we are, the higher our oxygen consumption and the greater our lung capacity, making breathing more efficient and our lungs cleaner. As a curiosity, several studies have shown that having a higher lung capacity can increase our intellectual capacity due to a better oxygenation of the brain.

The increase in blood flow through exercise directly benefits the brain. With this increase, brain cells are awakened, allowing a high state of alertness and focus during and after exercise. This is why it is so difficult to fall asleep right after a considerable effort or training, since your body is activated! The increased oxygen reaching the brain promotes the growth of new brain cells and the secretion of chemicals such as endorphins, adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine.

It’s well known that practicing sports promotes the effective elimination of body fat and allows you to burn a few calories. After 15 minutes of exercise, our muscles have already exhausted their sugar reserves and we start to burn the stored fats.

The various fat molecules in our body are broken down into fatty acids and glycerin, which pass through the outer walls of the cell and enter the bloodstream to be used by the muscles as fuel. The fat cells shrink and our body looks slimmer and more toned, one of our great goals for which we do sport, apart from feeling good and the benefits it brings.