Listing the benefits of exercise sounds a bit like the start of a late-night infomercial for some gadget that sounds too good to be true. Feel happier? Live longer? Stop memory loss and help prevent cancer? But it is true … and all this could be yours for just three weekly workouts of 50 minutes each! Canadian guidelines Canadian physical activity guidelines state that each of us should be exercising for at least 150 minutes each week. Although Canadian men are less likely than their female counterparts to utilize health care services, they can feel somewhat smug about their successes in the exercise department: men consistently incorporate more exercise into their daily lives than women. However, only 15 percent of all adults are meeting the national targets of 2.5 hours per week of moderate-to-vigorous exercise. While weight loss is an important result of exercise for many people, exercise has far broader effects on overall health; understanding its consequences just may motivate you to make better friends with your gym membership. 1. More energy and better sleep A common reason for not exercising is a lack of energy. This can be a tough hurdle to cross but once you get those first few workouts under your belt, it’s much easier to continue. Physical activity builds physical capacity, meaning that the more you exercise, the easier those same activities will be in the future. Outside the gym this also means that you will experience less fatigue when going about your daily activities. Of course, this means that at the end of the day, you’ll have that much more energy to exercise! Adding physical activity into your daily life will also improve your energy levels by supporting healthy sleep. Sleep is intrinsically tied to circadian rhythms—the cycles of hormones within our bodies that drive many of our physical processes. Regular exercise improves sleep quality and has been shown to improve even chronic insomnia. In addition, exercise can help the body adapt to changes in the sleep/wake schedule resulting from travel or shift work. Better sleep will lead to less daytime fatigue and greater energy reserves in your day-to-day life