There are two types of people: the ones who like running and the ones who don’t. The first ones preach to join their running church! And the second group usually finds a million reasons why they can do any other type of sport except running (the ones who have medical restrictions – not included). Sports adepts confirm that running even 3 miles a day can be a great way not only to burn calories but also to support your health and promote longevity.
Studies confirm that running increases blood flow throughout your body which helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to your cells; as a result, your muscles become more efficient at performing regular tasks like walking. We found another 10 healthy reasons why you should add running to your sports schedule.
1. Keeps your heart healthy
Running makes your heart beat faster and pumps blood more quickly through your body. This means that the heart has to work harder to get blood where it needs to go, strengthening the muscles in its walls and helping keep them healthy.
But running isn’t just about building muscle strength. It also helps prevent disease by keeping your cholesterol levels down. Running increases good cholesterol (HDL) and decreases bad cholesterol (LDL), making you less likely to develop heart disease or stroke later in life.
2. Reduces stress and improves mood
When you run, your body produces endorphins, which are hormones that make you feel happy, relaxed, and pain-free. When you run, you get a hefty dose of these happy chemicals, which can help lift your spirits and make you feel better about yourself.
Running is also an excellent way to blow off steam after a stressful day at work or school. It helps you burn off some of the negative energy in your body while giving your mind a chance to relax and unwind.
3. Improves your sleep quality
Getting enough sleep is important for your health, as it helps your body recover from the day’s activities, but sometimes it can be hard to fall asleep at night. When you run everyday, your body releases melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate your circadian rhythm, that is, how your body operates on a 24-hour schedule. The more melatonin your body releases, the more likely you feel sleepy at night. If you don’t release enough melatonin during the day, it can cause insomnia (lack of sleep).
4. Reduce blood pressure
It helps to lower your resting heart rate, which means that your heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump blood through your body. This means that the blood vessels don’t have to work as hard to keep up with the demand for blood, which helps reduce the pressure on the walls of those blood vessels and eventually lowers your risk for high blood pressure.
5. Helps keep your bones strong
Running helps you build strong bones because it increases the amount of weight-bearing activity in your life. Weight-bearing activity means that your body exerts a force on the ground, which is good for your bones because it helps them grow stronger and makes them less likely to break.
This can help prevent osteoporosis, a condition that occurs when too much calcium leaves your body through urine or faeces, leading to brittle bones that fracture easily.
6. Help with weight loss
When you run, your body uses energy; that’s what makes you feel tired and hungry after a run. The more energy you use during exercise, the more fat you burn off. This is why running everyday helps with weight loss because it burns more calories over time.
7. Boosts immunity
It helps strengthen the body’s defence system, which is called the immune system. The immune system protects the body against harmful germs and bacteria that cause infections or diseases. When you run regularly, the number of white blood cells in your body increases, which helps boost your immune system to fight off infections more efficiently.
8. Improves memory function
Running helps your brain stay young by increasing blood flow to your brain, which helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells throughout your entire body. This increased blood flow also keeps your brain healthy by preventing harmful toxins from building up, leading to improved memory. In addition, it also increases the volume of grey matter in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with learning and memory.
9. Reduces the risk of developing cancer
It has also been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, and more by regulating certain hormones that contribute to cancer development.
10. Lowers your risk for diabetes
Diabetes is a condition affecting your body’s ability to process sugar. When you have diabetes, your body either doesn’t produce enough insulin or can’t use it properly. If this happens, glucose can’t enter cells and build up in the blood.
When you run everyday, it will help keep your blood sugar levels under control and lower insulin resistance, which means that your body is better able to use its insulin effectively.
Conclusion
Running is one of the best ways to improve your overall health and fitness, and it’s a great way to clear your head and stay focused on your goals. And while it may seem like a lot of effort, studies have shown that running every day can help keep you healthy in the long run.
Sources
- Circadian rhythms (n.d, nigms.nih.gov)
- Does running with or without diet changes reduce fat mass in novice runners? A 1-year prospective study (2016, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Exercise can boost your memory and thinking skills (2021, health.havard.edu)
- Exercise can help you keep your bones strong (2018, health.havard.edu)
- Exercising to relax (2020, health.havard.edu)
- How exercise can lower cancer risk (2020, cancer.org)
- How to boost your immune system (2021, health.havard.edu)
- Is long-distance running good for the heart? (2019, heart.org)
- Running to lower resting blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2020, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The bidirectional relationship between exercise and sleep: Implications for exercise adherence and sleep improvement (2014, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The importance of exercise when you have diabetes (2021, health.havard.edu)
Published by HOLR Magazine.