Is Running Everyday More Harmful than Helpful?
Should you run every single day? That is the question that many new runners ask themselves.
Its well known that running can good for you. It can improve your health, muscular strength, joint strength, your everyday health, and it can even help you lose weight.
Running a lot can help to improve your cardiovascular system.
However, running everyday to build stamina may cause injury. It is important to limit the amount of running you do.
When you run everyday, your legs are not getting the recovery time they need to be healthy. You need to be running for a couple of hours every week.
Running a lot everyday can lead to injuries. Longer runs are better for your body than shorter runs. Running too much will cause overuse injury.
Running outdoors is a completely different experience, with unknown dangers.
Runners need to prepare themselves for any kind of weather condition, from nasty cold, to rain, to strong winds. They need to be ready for any kind of ground they may encounter.
How Running Changes Your Body
But whether you’re training for your first 5K or your 50th, it’s the best form of exercise for your body and can help make you feel and look better to achieve your fitness goals.
Just as importantly, it can improve your mental health, cardiovascular health, fitness level and general wellbeing, as well as helping you to stick to your training plan and be a motivated person.
Running is the best means of losing weight, improving fitness and boosting your heart health.
If you become a regular runner, you are likely to burn calories more efficiently than if you walked for the same amount of time, and you’ll be less likely to get injured.
The intensity of running burns more calories than walking at the same pace.
With regular running, mental health benefits such as body confidence, positive habits, elevated mood can be achieved.
It can relieve your self-inflicted stress, emotional stress and any feelings of stress that you feel.
Physical Benefits of Running
Running is a good exercise and since the benefits are so many and so noticeable, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to quantify the health benefits of running in terms of weight loss.
A recent study by a group of researchers at Harvard concluded that running is one of the healthiest exercises you can do.
Here are some of the benefits of running, according to the study:
- Improved Joint Strength
If you run a lot, you may already know that doing so can be a very effective way to improve joint strength for general strength and endurance.
The type of running you do, however, will have an impact on the amount of strength you are able to gain from exercise. Running is a great physical exercise and improve your joints. However, running has its downsides and one of these is the risk of overuse injuries. This is a problem for runners who can increase their joint strength to avoid injury.
- Improvement In Mood
Studies have shown that running can be just as effective as weight-bearing exercise like jogging and walking in boosting mood and reducing anxiety.
Perhaps it’s when the body releases the endorphins, or the increased oxygen intake, or the rush of dopamine after seeing a fast time, but after every run there is an undeniable euphoria.
Whether you’re a runner, cyclist, or simply a gym rat, there’s no denying that running is a great physical activty and your quality of life will improve.
If you’re a beginner runner, then you will see immediate changes in how you feel, especially once you start running a few times per week and develop a running habit.
- Reduces Mortality From Heart Disease
Running has all-around health benefits for both the short- and long term especially for our cardiovascular health.
Running can help you reduce your risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
Running at about briskness for 30 – 60 minutes a day three times a week, raises the level of HDL cholesterol in your blood, which can help protect you from heart disease.
Running at faster pace, or up to 75% of your VO2max can also help to reduce blood pressure and improve blood flow, which can also help to reduce your risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
- Add Years To Your Life Expectancy
Over the years, studies have shown that running can actually help increase your lifespan.
A recent study found that runners live longer than non-runners, and if you’re planning to get fit and stay in shape, then it’s a good idea to get started.
A study conducted by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in the US, for example, has shown that people who run regularly have a lower risk of dying prematurely.
Research published in the journal Nature found that runners have a much lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, and live up to three years longer than non-runners.
- You Can Burn Calories and Lose Weight
Aerobic exercise like Running is a great , type of exercise performed to burn calories, and if you don’t run, you can still lose weight.
This is because running is an anaerobic activity, meaning it produces lactic acid rather than oxygen, and you can lose weight by what you don’t eat.
In fact, running can reduce your appetite so you naturally eat fewer calories, and running also improves your insulin sensitivity, which means your body will increase storage of fat and muscle, both of which are good for weight loss and enhances body image.
How often should you run in a week?
One of the most common questions I get asked is, “How much can you do in a week?”
The answers range from 10km to 15 miles, depending on your training level and training goals.
But the question is hard to answer because you can do so much in a week.
You can run every day at a different pace, or only run one or two times a week.
Running is a low impact, low stress activity, meaning you can do it for a long time. Small amounts of exercise over long periods of time will maintain fitness.
There are three main reasons why the top athletes or competitive runner in the world don’t run more often than they do: they’re scared they’ll get injured, they’re scared they’ll get fat, or they just aren’t good at running and don’t want to get worse.
A lot of people think that you need to run a certain amount of miles per week in order to be physically fit.
But the truth is, research shows that the amount of the time you spend running per week doesn’t matter as much as the type of activity you do.
Benefits Of Stretching Before Running
If you stretch properly before you run then you can increase your workout intensity and improve your running time.
In this article we are going to look at why stretching before you run is beneficial, and how to improve your running stride with stretching.
Stretching improves your flexibility and increases the range of motion in your joints.
Warming up increases metabolism and increases blood flow to your muscles, increasing your strength and performance.
Like any other sport, running needs a well-conditioned body. Stretching before you hit the road or track can help to prevent injuries.
If you are unable to stretch properly, your muscles and tendons will become tight, and if you push through that, you may end up with a pulled muscle, strained muscle, or even a torn tendon.
Even a little bit of stretching can make all the difference. Overuse injuries occur more often with longer running distances.
Why frequency is so important?
There are three main reasons why you should develop a good habit of running every day.
First, running strengthens the heart and lungs.
Second, running helps to strengthen the muscles that are used in other activities, such as lifting weights and playing tennis.
Third, running refreshes the mind: if you are a runner, then you are more likely to be productive at work.
It’s important to remember that your running frequency is more important than distance when it comes to building strength and endurance in your legs.
The reason for this is that running is a motor skill. The more often you run, the better you become at building the required muscle strength and endurance.
Overuse injuries that cause running injuries are caused by the repetitive stresses of running with the same speed and intensity. Overuse injuries occur more often with longer running distances.
Frequency is the number of times your body can perform a certain action in a certain time. The lower the frequency, the longer your body must perform the action and the longer it takes you to recover.
A good way to improve your running speed is to run more often.
How often should you take a break from running?
Running is a great way to get fit, but it can be tough to stick with a fitness routine.
If you push yourself too hard, you could risk injury and burning out your body. But you can’t push yourself too far—your body can only handle so much.
The good news is that you don’t have to train like a marathon runner all the time.
You should take a break from running when your body starts to feel uncomfortable, your body is fatigued, the weather is bad, or you’re getting injured.
You should stay away from running when it’s dark, it’s cold, or you’re tired. When it’s warm, you can increase the intensity of your runs.
You should increase your running intensity when you’re running outside.
You should take breaks from running to perform your body’s natural healing process. If you run for an hour or more, you should take at least a 20-minute walk after you’re done.
This will help your body recover faster.
Running hard for an extended period of time can cause a burnout.
It is also important to stretch your body and take adequate rest to keep your joints lubricated so that you can continue to run at your best.
