Not only does running enhance you health, but it promotes weight loss, improve cardiovascular fitness, improve body composition, better looking abdominal and leg muscles.
Doctors also recommend running for those who are in the early stages of diabetes, or high blood pressure. And for women, it can lower the risk of breast cancer and reduce the risk of having a stroke.
Despite its popularity as a workout for weight loss, so many people perceives running as a painful, tedious, and exhausting exercise and as such shy away from it when actually an hour of running could burn as much as 700 calories.
Do you remember waking up early in the money to see people running across the street and wonder where they are running to? Oh yea! People run for different reasons. Most often, people run to stay in shape and to reach an ideal body weight. Studies shows that a combination of diet and exercise is the most effective way to lose weight, as it triggers a loss of body fat and a proportional increase of lean tissue.
Running, a rigorous cardiovascular exercise, allows a person to burn an average of 100 calories per each mile he or she runs. While the average male burns 2500, the average female burns 2000 calories a day by simply existing, running 5 miles a day can burn an additional 500 calories, making it a legitimate way to lose weight the natural way.
So, what are the benefits associated with running?
Healthy Heart
Running is one of the best ways to give your heart muscle an effective workout. By running frequently, you can reduce the risk of a heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke.
Weight Loss
The average runner burns about 700 calories an hour during a training session. So expect to get a bit smaller, which will in turn help you run faster.
Complexion
Running stimulates your circulation, improving the transportation of nutrients around your system and flushing out waste products. This will help make your skin clearer and give you that distinctive runner's glow.
Mental Health
A regular running habit will you lift your mood and build self-esteem. It also increases your self-confidence as you reach fitness and/or weight loss goals. Running can help relieve mild depression.
Fat Burn
By running you are building lean muscle, changing your body composition and your metabolism. Lean muscle weighs more than fat but burns more calories even when you're resting, so cultivate a regular running habit and you should see a gradual, healthy inch loss.
Stress
Running increases your ability to cope with everyday minor irritations and stresses.
Immune system
If you are a runner you will find that you have a stronger immune system, that means you'll suffer less from minor illnesses such as colds, allergies, fatigue, menstrual discomfort, backache, and digestive disorders.
Anxiety
Runners generally have a lower level of anxiety than those who don't run. One study suggests that regular training reduces the activity of the serotonin receptors in the brain which regulate mood. Reduced sensitivity of these receptors to stimulation might explain the positive effects of exercise on anxiety.
Happiness
Heard of the runner's high? It's not a myth. Endorphins engendered by exercise mean that people who run are often happier than those who don't: if you've ever felt that sense of elation during or after a run, you'll know what we're talking about. Running regularly can also improve patience, humour and ambition, and make you more good-tempered and easy-going.
Brain Power
You can increase your mental functions by going running as it boosts blood flow to the brain and helps it receive oxygen and nutrients, making you more productive at work.
Osteoporosis
If you run on a regular basis you are continually taxing your muscles and bones so the bones are stimulated to remain stronger and do not easily weaken with age. So say buh-bye to osteoporosis.
Sleep
Insomniacs take note - studies show that runners find it easier to get to sleep at night and sleep longer.
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