10 Benefits of Running

Making the decision to run your first 10k or Marathon is a huge decision that will have many fantastic and positive effects on the rest of your life. Yes the training can take a lot of commitment and yes it may hurt sometimes, but that is all part of the journey.

By training for a Marathon you are building an athlete and becoming much more than you were before you began your adventure. Running a Marathon says that you have the ability to commit, to push through pain and obstacles and ultimately become all that you can be.

  10 Benefits of Running

1. Running Improves your Mood:

Getting out on the road and running, increases the production certain chemicals within the brain. These chemicals include Dopamine and Serotonin and have the great effect of raising your mood and making your feel happier and content. Many doctors have been known to prescribe exercise to individuals suffering from depression, due to its’ positive effect on their feelings of self worth and happiness.

2: Running helps people to loose weight.

The body requires fuel to power a runners muscles and propel them forward when they train. This fuel can come from either fat-stores already on the body or from calories in the food and drinks which the runner consumes while they train. A healthy and balanced running programme can provide runners with excellent weight loss results, as it can lead to a reduction in body fat and an increase in lean tissue.

3: Running helps to lower Blood pressure

By maintaining the elasticity of the arteries, running can help to lower an individuals blood pressure. Runners tend to enjoy a much lower Blood pressure level than the majority of the population

4: Running helps to increase your lung capacity

Running helps to increase the strength and capacity of your lungs. The deep and consistent breathes taken during training, help to force the lungs to use more tissue and become stronger. This means that more and more of the lungs potential is utilised. This is also true of people who had previously smoked, as they can begin to recover the lung capacity which they had lost.

5: Running increases the strength of the heart:

The heart is one of the largest individual muscles in the human body. Consistent and sensible exercise can help to strengthen the heart and increase its’ efficiency. An inactive persons’ heart will beat thousands of more times a day then that of a regular runner. This is because a healthy person will generally possess a “lower heart rate” due to the increased efficiency of each beat. Remember that before taking part in any exercise regime you should always speak with your doctor first!