What Are the Benefits and Risks of Running Every Day?

Health
joseph
March 24, 2022
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222
14 minutes read

Healthy living means active life, a better lifestyle, and a good diet. As the world is moving towards a technological revolution, companies are looking for easy solutions for almost everything. Now you don’t have to look for organic food, there are so many companies that offer complete food guides and you can get everything delivered right to your doorstep. Apart from this, companies are encouraging people to have an active lifestyle, the government is promoting the use of public transport and people are working on their own as well. However, when it comes to exercise most people struggle with time management. There is no doubt that time management is very difficult, but for healthy living, this is a very small price to pay. One of the most important things that makes the overall exercise process scary is the fact that people link exercise with extensive gym sessions. Contrary to common belief, you don’t have to spend too much time on the overall exercise. According to a recent study posted by the Harvard health journal, it was stated that just a 15 minutes walk per day is enough for anyone to have all the benefits from daily exercise. Apart from this, a recent study by health line shows that a 15 minutes walk after a meal is much better than a 45 minutes walk or any other exercise at any other time. In short, if you have a good workout plan you can avoid working out for extensive hours.

Table of Contents

Why Running Is Underestimated?

As the technology is getting better more and more gyms are endorsing their work through machines. They are providing details about the methods that they used, the people they hire, the facilities they provide, and the gym equipment they have. Overall, if we try to figure out what kind of gym you should join, the endorsement is quite attractive that you might feel confused. Apart from this most fitness professionals do not endorse jogging and walking too much because it has no capital return. This means that for running you don’t need any equipment, you don’t need any consultation or any gym so they will not be benefiting from it. On the contrary, physicians endorse jogging more than any gym workout because it is easy and beneficial. In short, it is all about knowledge, if you want to just spend money, there are so many different exercises but if you are all up for taking on a challenge with no extra money this is a great opportunity for you.

How does the body use energy and what benefits us?

We all know that the body uses calories for any kind of work. We exercise because we want to spend some extra calories that we have stored in the form of fats. Our body mainly handles energy in three different forms.

The body uses extra energy for healing
It uses energy for daily activities
It uses energy for bodily function.

If we try to understand this we will see that happening in our day-to-day life. Body functions are different in every gender, age, and height so the consumption of calories is different in all. Similarly, some people are more active than others so the body uses more or less energy accordingly. Also, the body uses energy for healing so if there is an injury or an issue, the body uses the energy for that as well. Overall, when we want to lose weight, we try to increase the use of energy by increasing the function of the body. It can be an increase in daily activity or body function or even in healing.

When we exercise, we are not only trying to increase our daily activity but also the use of healing energy. We all know that while the exercising body goes through wear and tear, to heal this, proper energy use is required.

Where to Start?

Running is a great exercise, there is no doubt about it. However, half knowledge is as bad as no knowledge. Before you jump in to start your running routine you need in-depth information about the possible benefits and risks of running. Most people just know about the benefits and they keep endorsing jogging and running based on these benefits but risks are equally important. Usually, risks are not linked with jogging or walking in general but the wrong technique that is used for running or jogging. According to the health journal of the UK, just 5 to 10 minutes’ walk at a medium pace is enough for reducing all kinds of risks related to heart health. Apart from this, some of the common diseases especially obesity, cardiovascular disorders, blood pressure, high cholesterol level, etc. can also be avoided with the help of simple jogging. You don’t need any fancy equipment, just a 5-10 minute walk is enough for you. Another research has informed that with 4.5 hours of weekly walking, you can avoid all these major issues. This means you can work out even in a limited time. Apart from avoiding cardiovascular diseases, running is excellent for avoiding injuries because it helps in the warm-up. However, if you overtrain for long hours, this can cause an injury as well. Running is a high-impact exercise that requires a lot of energy, even the slightest overtraining can cause stress fractures if not taken care of properly.

Basic Benefits of Running

So far if we ask a medical professional he will explain that running is excellent. There is no doubt about it. Apart from saving time, you are saving money, you are also training your body and you are burning calories. Another very important benefit is stamina training. To help the beginner understand in detail the possible benefits of running, we have listed down some of the benefits. With the help of these benefits, you will be able to know why you should start running today.

Running is excellent for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart stroke, and cholesterol disposition in the veins.
Running is excellent for reducing the risk of cancer
Running also helps in decreasing the possibility of developing any neurological disorder, especially Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases
Running is excellent for mental health, especially for reducing the risk of depression. It is also an excellent stress reliever.

How Much Time Do You Need?

Well, we have already mentioned that you don’t need more than 15 minutes per day. However, for making sure that you make the most out of your time, you need to improve the timing as well. According to a Dutch researcher, running 2.5 hours per week or for 30 minutes regularly is enough for you. It is very important to keep in mind that your body also needs rest so taking two days off from running is enough to help your body heal. However, healing doesn’t mean you can skip the workout completely, you can rely on yoga or something else to ensure that your body stays on track. For running you need to make sure that timing is not an issue at the start. You also need to keep listening to your body. If you feel stressed or your body is getting tired, limit the time and then practice to get better. Running 30 minutes on your first day might look pretty amazing but your whole body will start aching and you will not be able to continue the next day. It is better to start with a simple plan and then use this plan to improve your time eventually. Apart from the overall time, you also need to keep in mind that there is a proper running schedule. You need to start jogging after you eat and that has to be during the daytime. This means that the ideal time for running is after breakfast. Similarly, some people like to run at night, there is no hard and fast rule but at night carbon dioxide concentration is more and most people eat dinner very late and very light. All these things do not go very well with running so it is better to plan your jogging accordingly.

What Do We Mean By Regular Running?

Everyone keeps talking about regular walks. However, a regular walk or regular exercise of any kind doesn’t mean you need to work out every day. Usually, the workout week is limited to 5 days where you get two days of rest. If you work out every day and your body is not used to it, it will eventually get tired. Pushing the limitations of your own body will cause injury and if you keep exercising even if you are injured, the damage will become permanent. The worst form of exercise is overtraining so this is the only reason you will ever need professional help. Once you have the schedule you can simply follow it and this will not cause any harm or injury.

To understand the term overuse or overtraining, it is very important to understand the working of the body when you exercise. Starting from human anatomy we can see that every time you perform some kind of activity, your muscles start moving. This way the energy is used and your muscles start to wear and tear as well so you feel soreness. When the muscle becomes sore, they need time to heal, however, if you work out daily, your body doesn’t have enough time to heal and this just gets worse. With too much physical activity or walking too fat for a very long time, injury gets worse. You need to give your body enough time to adjust. This is the same reason you will not be able to run as fast as a marathon runner. Proper running needs a lot of practice, technique, and help. For avoiding any possible damage to the muscle or body, here are some of the important things that you should keep in mind:

Get good shoes that are designed for running only
Invest in supporting gadgets, good sportswear, and other gear.
Make a schedule where you have running for 4 days along with cycling and swimming so that your body gets used to different kinds of exercises
A warm-up session is very important for reducing the chance of any injury that might take place.
Learn the actual posture and technique of running
In case of injury or pain, stop running and see a doctor before it’s too late.
Keep the injured part above the heart level and use ice for cold compression.

Why Running Daily Is Not Good?

We have seen that most people mentioned that running is good for health but running daily is not so good for health. Reasons are pretty easy to understand but most people struggle with the overall idea that exercise can be bad for health. If we look at the details we will be able to understand that running is not bad for overall health but just physical health and muscle. Otherwise, burning calories and reducing fat is a good thing. To ensure that your body is still burning calories but not getting tired physically, you need to try cross-training. With the help of cross-training, you can mix and match various exercises with running and jogging. Some of the important reason that will explain the importance of cross-training includes:

Cross-training is good for providing an extra variety
Cross-training is good for reducing the risk of any possible injury
Cross-training helps with recovery in case the injury happens and also maintains fitness in the meantime
This helps with increasing the flexibility and overall body strength
Cross-training is excellent for engaging the overall body muscle rather than just focusing on a few

Cross-training doesn’t mean you need some kind of complex exercise. You need to improve your workout routine by using cardio, yoga, cycling, swimming, aerobics, Pilates, and more.

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