You could come up with a long list of benefits to exercise—it improves heart health, it wards off disease, it boosts your energy levels, and it puts you in a good mood.
Then there’s weight maintenance: When you expend energy through exercise, you burn (or avoid putting on) excess bodyfat. But new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Metabolism earlier this year found that exercise has benefits for our body composition beyond how much bodyfat we have but also what kind of bodyfat we have. As it turns out, when we exercise, we store a healthier form of fat.
Our bodies have two types of fat. There’s what’s known as subcutaneous fat, which lies just under the skin. Then there’s visceral fat, which forms around our organs and is often linked to greater risk of disease. Researchers looked at two test groups—one that was sedentary and one that did consistent aerobic exercise—and found that even when their levels of bodyfat were the same, the exercisers had fat cells that were more flexible, allowing them to expand and store fat subcutaneously. This meant less inflammation and lowered risk of conditions typically associated with obesity like high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, and stroke.
Remember, bodyfat isn’t necessarily bad—it’s the body’s natural way of storing energy, among many other purposes. It’s only when bodyfat is especially high (or low) that there are health risks, and this research points to the idea that obesity is more complicated than “fat” or “thin.” A person’s overall health is determined by numerous factors.
Add this to the long list of reasons to enjoy some exercise today!
