The Hogeye Marathon is coming up, and the weather is just right for training! Even if you’re not training for a marathon, running is an excellent form of exercise.
Here are the top 5 health benefits of running:
Aerobic exercise
Running is a terrific cardiovascular exercise since it gets your heart rate up and increases oxygen delivery to your muscles. It can lower blood pressure, reduce your chances of heart disease, help control blood sugar, and improve lung function.
Adults need about 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 to 7 days a week.
Weight bearing exercise
Exercise that involves supporting the weight of your body against gravity is known as weight-bearing exercise. Running is a good example.
Weight-bearing exercise slows bone loss and can even build bone strength. It also builds muscle, reducing chances of back pain and improving balance and coordination. Joint flexibility is another benefit of weight-bearing exercise. All these factors taken together mean that weight-bearing exercises like running can reduce the chances of falls and injuries in later life.
Running in particular has been shown to reduce your chances of developing arthritis.
Weight management
Running has been found to help people lose weight and maintain weight loss.
One of the main reasons is that running is convenient. All it requires is a good pair of running shoes and a little bit of time. Sometimes our plans for regular exercise get derailed by costs and other circumstances. Running doesn’t require a gym membership, availability at a specific time, a particular environment, teammates, or special equipment. That makes it easier to take up and keep up than most other forms of exercise.
Mental health
It turns out that running is not only good for your physical health, but is also good for your mental health. Numerous studies have found a correlation between regular running and improved mental health.
Running is relaxing and helps you sleep better. One reason is that running calms the cerebral cortex, letting you get as close to not thinking as possible, providing a mental rest that can be hard to achieve at other times.
Longevity
Running helps people live longer. When runners and non-runners have been compared in various long-term studies, runners were found to live longer.
This is true for all causes of death. Runners have been found to live an average of three years longer than people who don’t run.
One reason for this is that running decreases the chances of death from specific diseases like heart disease, stroke, and even some cancers.