When you think about running for exercise, your first thought is probably burning legs, sweat, and sore muscles. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that these minor inconveniences can foster a healthy lifestyle and actually increase your life expectancy in the meantime. Here’s how running can change your life expectancy.
Running isn’t the only exercise that can improve your overall health. Scientists actually recommend at least 75 minutes of high-intensity workouts per week to increase the longevity of your overall physical and mental health.
In this guide, let’s discuss how running affects your body, both physically and mentally. Finally, this post will cover how these benefits can improve your overall lifespan and help you live a long and happy life.
What does running do for your body?
Knowing that exercise is good for your overall health isn’t necessarily rocket science — but it is exercise science. Here are some ways that running can improve your life expectancy:
1. Reduces the risk of heart disease
Running is a form of aerobic exercise and a great way to reduce your risk of stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Instead of treating every day like a marathon, you just need to run a mile a day to increase the amount of “good” cholesterol in your body.
2. Metabolism improvement
If you try to accomplish at least 45 minutes of vigorous exercise in the morning, you may increase your metabolic rate for the rest of the day. Only make this exercise change after verifying with your doctor that it is safe to do so, based on your unique body, medical history, injuries, and more.
Increasing your metabolism can help to keep your body in check and increase your overall longevity, all while potentially helping with weight loss. With so many benefits, it’s no wonder that running and other forms of exercise to lose weight are often part of a New Year’s Resolution.
3. Increases bone strength
Running can strengthen your invertebral discs and decrease your chances of experiencing the pain of a herniated or slipped disc. Just one or two minutes of running every day may strengthen your bones and help you live a happier life.
Running and mental health
Physical health isn’t the only thing affected when it comes to life expectancy increases due to exercise. If you feel like you’re always at the whim of a random mood swing or depression, then exercise can help you. Running one daily can improve your mental health in the following ways.
1. Boosts your mood
It only takes ten minutes of exercise per week to increase your levels of happiness through exercise. Boosting your mood with exercise is a great way to increase the longevity of your life and may keep sadness and dark thoughts at bay.
2. Manages and may relieve stress
Although running isn’t a cure for stress, it can be a great way to manage it. Running will help you protect your emotional resilience in trying times and may save you from the negative emotional consequences that stress brings on.
It can also help you be more productive throughout the day and at work. That may help relieve stress and maintain focus.
3. Improves your memory
Regular running is attributed to improving your long-term memory because aerobic exercise can increase the volume of your hippocampus — the area of your brain that helps you learn and remember. By keeping yourself active, you may be able to avoid memory issues as you age.
Now that you know all the benefits of exercise and the impacts that running has on your health, time to lace up and splurge on some new running shoes. It’s time to put down the computer, game controller, or remote, and step into the sun.
Infographic on how running can change your life
Infographic Design By Ness Well