Your metabolism is the reaction of chemical processes within your body. Physical activity, such as jogging, enhance these chemical reactions. Regular exercise increases your ability to generate heat, create energy by burning fat and calories and strengthens your immune system. The rate at which your metabolism functions can be increased in a variety of ways, such as: stress, shivering or eating, however, the most efficient way of maintaining a healthy body is through regular physical activity.
Aerobic
Jogging is an aerobic activity. Aerobics is defined as having the availability of oxygen. In other words, the demands of the exercise allows your body to renew its sources of oxygen without having to rely on the body's limited supply. The more you jog, the better your body conditions itself for this activity, resulting in an efficient metabolism and increased fitness level.
Metabolism
Your body is constantly using the fuel you provide for it to create energy for survival. Even while sleeping, your body is expending a certain amount of energy. Your body's energy usage is measured by determining your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the amount of energy required to maintain survival while at rest, but not asleep. Everybody's BMR is different, although, generally a 150- lb. person will burn about 570 kilocalories per hour while jogging at 5 mph.
Fitness
The more active a person is, the more fit they will become. Similarly, the more fit a person is, the more muscle they will develop and the more muscle a person develops, the more efficient their metabolism will be. Exercise is the most efficient method of metabolizing fat as energy. Someone who carries an excess amount of body fat will have a less efficient metabolism than someone whose body composition is made up more of muscle. Therefore, the more exercise you engage in, such as jogging, the more muscle you will develop and the less fat your body will store.
Physiology
Fundamentally, it's the cells of your body that convert food into energy to sustain activities like jogging. Your body contains many different types of cells, although, their basic components are essentially the same. Cells contain numerous mitochondria, depending on their function and energy needs. The mitochondria are the organelles that produce energy, specifically, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP splits apart, releasing heat and energy. When you jog, you are forcing the cells of your body to produce more energy for survival, as a result they adapt and become better able to provide that energy for you. This is your metabolic response to exercise.
References
- "Nutrition Now"; Judith Brown; 2002
- "Fitness and Health"; Brian Sharkey; 2002
- "Human Physiology"; Lauralee Sherwood; 2004
- "Mayo Clinic: Fitness for Everybody"; Diane Dahn, et al.; 2005
- "LehningerPrinciples of Biochemistry"; David Nelson, et al.; 2000
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