Health benefits of regular running

Running is becoming an increasingly popular sport. In addition, it is a full-fledged sport in which you engage practically all muscle groups on the body. Thanks to this, it is almost an inexhaustible source of endorphins, which regularly drives runners forward. The best part is that you need almost no equipment to  run . Just quality footwear, something light to wear and you can run as far as your legs will take you.

A good feeling is the first thing you feel after a run. But this is still nothing compared to the health benefits that regular running brings. Do you know what they are?

6 positive things you get from running regularly

1. Running strengthens the immune system

Even if you sometimes feel like dying after running, running boosts your defenses . At least to a certain extent – the so-called J-curve applies here, which says about the following:

• Occasional sports = slight improvement of immunity
• Regular sports = the most effective support of immunity
• Extreme sports, excessive load, races = weakening of immunity

This picture, which is taken from David Nieman’s work, describes it in detail :

As you can see, regular running can, in the best case, increase our resistance to respiratory diseases by up to half . It’s not 100% protection, but it’s definitely worth it.

• How to get better at running? Try 5 tips that will move you to better results.

2. Running supports the cardiovascular system

And according to a study by Matthew Nystoriak, it does so in several ways :

• It improves lipid parameters in the blood , in particular an increase in the level of HDL cholesterol and a decrease in the level of LDL and VLDL cholesterol can be expected.
• It reduces the formation of atherosclerotic plaques , which are a risk factor in most cardiovascular diseases.
• It strengthens the heart and lowers the resting heart rate.

According to the Mayo Clinic, regular jogging can lower systolic blood pressure by about 4-9 mm Hg on average. This is comparable in effectiveness to some medications that are prescribed for high blood pressure. However, “the more, the better” does not apply here either. Extremely busy athletes can even weaken their cardiovascular system .

Scientists find the greatest benefits in a daily portion of about 50-60 minutes of more demanding physical activity. So you really don’t need to run marathons to be healthy . Even just 5-10 minutes of jogging per day is associated with an overall reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

3. Running is an effective mood “enhancer”.

Really, try it. Go for a run when you have just enough to do after work, or when you’ve been studying all day and still feel like you can’t do anything. When running, you compare the thoughts in your head , and if you are solving a problem in your head or have an important decision ahead of you, you will look at them from a slightly different point of view.

A scientific group led by John Bartholomew from Texas, USA, even tried it on patients with depression, and  it turned out that just half an hour of jogging improved the patients’ mood even more than 30 minutes of rest and rest.

• What is the difference between outdoor running and treadmill running? You can find the answer here

4. Running will help with sleep and concentration

Maybe it has happened to you that you stare at the wall at night and cannot fall asleep. It can also be caused by the fact that you had a lack of physical activity during the day .

Swiss scientists prepared an interesting 3-week experiment to confirm this theory . They chose 60 students of a Basel high school with an average age of 18 and divided them into two groups. The first group started each working day by running for about 30 minutes, the second (control) group did not run.

After 3 weeks of the experiment, the students in the running group noticed several positive changes:

• They woke up in the morning in a better mood
• They were more focused during the day
• Sleep quality increased both subjectively and objectively
• The time it took them to fall asleep was reduced from 10 to 7 minutes

You can find more tips that will help you fall asleep more easily in the article How to fall asleep quickly? 8 easy tips to help you sleep like a baby

 

5. Running is a great helper in losing weight

This is because it is  one of the most energy-demanding physical activities , so even a short run lasting 20-30 minutes can burn a relatively large portion of calories.

A simple indicative example: A man weighing 80 kg burns about 400 kcal in 30 minutes of running (at a pace of 10 km/h), a woman weighing 65 kg burns about 325 kcal in 30 minutes of running (at a pace of 10 km/h).

Losing weight starts and ends in the kitchen, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also help ourselves with physical activity. It is therefore a very important part of any weight loss diet, and  that is why running, ideally together with strength training,  is an excellent supplement for weight loss. And since the pounds lost from being overweight or obese also have many health benefits, we can benefit from this as well thanks to running.

6. Running can help with high blood sugar and insulin resistance

In most cases , two main reasons are responsible for insulin resistance, which usually leads to type 2 diabetes  – lack of physical activity and overweight or obesity . Running can handle both factors at the same time. There is even a study that revealed the positive effects of running and strength training in elderly patients treated with type 2 diabetes for an average of more than 16 years.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s the running itself or the subsequent weight reduction that improves blood sugar control. The important thing is that running brings us health benefits in this respect as well.

• How to overcome initial running discomfort? Read the article 5 problems that spoil your enjoyment of running and how to overcome them

Can running harm health?

Die-hard opponents of running sometimes argue that running can actually be harmful in some aspects of health. Most often, this issue is related to the health of the musculoskeletal system. What is the truth?

Running and bone health

By “healthy bones” we usually mean a state where a high mineral density is maintained in the bones . This is because it is associated with stronger bones and a lower risk of breaking them in the event of a fall or intense contact.

Can running deplete us of the high density of mineral substances in the bones? It seems not . Running and other endurance sports do not have such a positive effect on bone mineral density as strength sports, but they certainly do not harm bones . Compared to the non-sporting population, runners are a little better off, at worst the same .

A risk case can be insufficient supply of nutrients to the body, which can result in reduced bone quality, which we wrote about in our next article . In short, if we want some performance from the body, we have to give it back in food. However, runners should pay attention to fatigue fractures, to which (especially long-distance) runners are particularly prone. Fatigue fractures can occur due to long-term excessive load or insufficient regeneration after training.

Running and knee health

Controversy still exists regarding the link between running and its effect on the knee joint. This is also confirmed by the recent Canadian experiment , which showed that the lay public is quite divided on this issue .

For example, “non-runners” see running as significantly more problematic than runners, which is relatively unsurprising. What is surprising, however, is that 40% of respondents saw long-distance running as a health risk. However, these concerns are not shared by most studies. In the case of recreational athletes, running does not appear to be associated with a higher risk of knee osteoarthritis.

Knee pain can be caused by inappropriate footwear or running technique , but general overload or insufficient regeneration can also play a role. Last but not least, ” runner’s knee ” can also be to blame, but it usually goes away within a few days.

What to take from it?

Running is one of the popular physical activities that have many positive effects on health. Overall, running and the associated weight control is a great way to monitor or even improve the condition of the immune and cardiovascular systems . In the same way, blood sugar level control is one of the benefits that we can expect from running.

But running can improve our quality of life for other reasons as well. With practically immediate effectiveness, it is an excellent way to improve mood and zest for life, in a long-term context, regular running can improve the quality of sleep or concentration and attention during the day.

Sometimes running is also associated with a negative effect on health, namely a reduction in bone strength or an increased risk of damage to the articular cartilage of the knee joint. However, in none of these cases, professional studies are not unanimous, on the contrary, they talk about a positive effect on bone quality and prevention of knee joint arthrosis, at least when it comes to recreational running without extreme stress.