Great Health Benefits of Running
Did you know that of all the possible forms of physical activity, running is the most practised by the population? 1. According to different surveys of lifestyle habits, running is the activity chosen by more people to maintain an active life, surpassing even football, swimming or cycling. But what are the actual health benefits of running? We detail the main advantages of running on a regular and scheduled basis that the scientific community has demonstrated.
Also read: Ten Quick Dishes for a Healthy Diet
Table of Contents
Main Health Benefits of Running
1. Improves Quality Of Life
Several factors influence the improvement of the quality of life 2. Running helps us not only physically but also psychologically and socially. To improve quality of life, the World Health Organization recommends taking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day. With your running sessions and being more active in general, you will meet and even exceed this goal every day.
2. Decreases Mortality
One of the great benefits of running is classical that it helps us have a better physical condition. Several scientific studies link an excellent physical condition with a lower probability of suffering a cardiovascular accident and suffering from osteoarticular injuries 3. The latter can generate a disability that shortens the life of the person who suffers it.
3. Helps Prevent Disease
Science has shown that a lack of physical activity increases the likelihood of disease in general, 3. Going for a run is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most fun ways to get away from many types of ailments.
4. Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
Physical exercise has remained shown to be beneficial for heart health. Reasonable blood pressure control is essential when it comes to preventing any cardiovascular accident.
For example, research carried out by Ketelhut et al. 2 showed that blood pressure during exercise stands reduced with weekly training sessions. The authors conclude that aerobic exercise is associated with decreased blood pressure compared to other therapies, including some medications.
In addition to promoting blood pressure reduction, practising running will improve your cardiovascular health 3in other respects, among them helping you reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the so-called “bad” cholesterol. To increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL), known as “good” cholesterol.
Likewise
likewise, the practice of running improves the performance of the heart muscle. You must not forget that the heart is a muscle and, the better the understanding of its fibres, the greater the benefits of running for your cardiovascular health. Running helps to have a healthy and robust heart, also improving recovery capacity.
5. Strengthens the bones
Bone mineral density is a measure of minerals (usually calcium and phosphorus) that a certain amount of bone contains. Bone mineral density values remain used to diagnose osteoporosis, and they are also a good predictor of the fragility of this tissue.
Physical exercise is a great precursor in creating bone and preventing certain diseases related to it 4. When running, the muscles put tension on the bones, which favours the creation of bone tissue. Therefore, practising running helps you have healthier bones.
6. Improves mental health
Beyond the physical benefits of running, running also significantly helps improve mental health 5. From feeling part of a group of people who do the same activity to choosing your next race with some friends, running regularly helps you improve your mental well-being and live more fully.
When you exercise, the body releases certain chemicals, including the famous endorphins, also known as “happiness hormones.” Endorphins can interact with brain receptors, reducing, for example, the perception of pain.
In this sense, people who run regularly are generally more active and more optimistic about life. Other benefits of running include reducing stress or preventing anxiety and depression, and helping you sleep better.
7. Helps to lose weight
Going for a run will help you control your bodyweight if you combine running with a proper diet. It would help if you interspersed different types of training to optimise your body in the consumption of varying energy substrates. Not only low intensity and long duration workouts and high-intensity workouts such as series or hills.
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