Following an exercising routine and stick with it helps you stay fit and healthy, but how about working out for a bit more purpose in life?
Scientists came across an intriguing approach: exercise can bring new meaning to your life. Choosing to work out every day can highly improve your feelings of purpose in life.
Here is what you need to know.
New Study Discusses Link Between Purpose and Exercise
As per a new study led by a professor of behavioural science at the UK’s University of Warwick, Ivo Vlaev, and Ayse Yemiscigil, Ph. D., a postdoctoral researcher at the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, there’s a link between purpose and exercise.
Researchers’ work and findings
Researchers examined a huge batch of data to determine if there’s really a link between purpose and exercise. For that, they used data from the Health and Retirement Study focused on people over 50, combined with another research of more than 4,000 people.
Participants were asked to report their daily activities and mental health, as well as their sense of purpose. The findings are genuinely intriguing.
Exercising Daily Lead to Healthy Permanent Routines
The researchers discovered that exercise is not only linked with feelings and purpose. It can actually develop a steady cycle, making you want to exercise more and keep a healthy routine.
“People who started with active lives generally showed an increasing sense of purpose over the years, and those whose sense of purpose was sturdier, in the beginning, were the most physically active years later,” explained Yemiscigil.
A Happier, More Purposeful Life
Another study led by the University of Minnesota tells us that achieving a more powerful sense of purpose is associated with a longer life, better protection against Alzheimer’s disease, and a lower risk of heart disease.
So, literally working our way to a more purposeful life means we can highly support our future. Of course, there are still many challenges that we have to face daily, and sometimes everything seems just not enough. But aren’t we all seeking the same things in life? We all wish for that happy life for as much as it’s possible.
You Can Find Your Sense of Purpose
Purpose belongs to something huge, greater than ourselves. What experts recommend us?
Start with baby steps. Find healthy and reliable connections in your community and get involved with a cause that’s bigger than yourself. You’ll soon discover that’s cheap medicine, and purpose has really a lot of biological effects.
