The treadmill may be boring but there are good reasons to use it.

Preserve Your Vision

People who ran two to four kilometres a day had a 19 percent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration, while those who ran more cut their chance by 42 to 54 percent, according to a study published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. Vigorous activity may also decrease the risk of developing cataracts.

Overcome Cravings

 
The next time you hear a chocolate bar calling your name, try taking a hike. In one recent study published in the journal Appetite, subjects who took a brisk 15-minute walk decreased their cravings for chocolate by 12 percent. Just be sure to choose a route away from the vending machine.

Reduce Your Risk Of Breast Cancer

Women who did either moderate exercise for 2.5 hours or vigorous activity for 75 minutes a week reduced their chance of dying from breast cancer by a third, according to a study published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. Women who did about twice as much cardio lowered their risk by 55 percent.

Quit Smoking

Research shows that 10- to 15-minute sessions of aerobic exercise trigger changes within the brain that help defuse nicotine cravings in smokers. What’s more, a separate study found that cardio activity can also make smoking-related images less likely to grab a smoker’s attention.

Lose Weight

Obvious, right? A study in the journal Obesity found that just 80 minutes of cardio a week slowed weight gain and stopped participants from gaining visceral fat (the dangerous kind in the stomach area, which has been linked to diabetes and cardiovascular disease) a year after weight loss.

(Womans Health SA 2012)