Interesting Facts About Running

To celebrate the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Live Language will be focusing on fitness!

Every day we will be posting little motivational messages to improve your health, while practising your English, of course!

To get us in the mood for this weekends marathon, read on to learn more about the benefits of running….

Did you know….

1. Running makes you happier.

A 2012 study proved that just 30 minutes of running during the week for three weeks boosted sleep quality, mood, and concentration during the day.  Ever heard someone call running their “drug”? Well, apparently, it actually is pretty similar. A 2007 study in Physiological Behavior showed that running causes the same kind of neurochemical adaptations in brain reward pathways that also are shared by addictive drugs.

2. Running helps you get skinnier.
You know that exercises burns calories while you’re working out. The bonus is that when you exercise, the burn continues after you stop. Studies have shown that regular exercise boosts “afterburn”—that is, the number of calories you burn after exercise. That’s kind of like getting a paycheck even after you retire.  And you don’t have to be sprinting at the speed of sound to get this benefit. This happens when you’re exercising at an intensity a little faster than your easy pace, and a little slower than marathon pace.

3.Running strengthens your knees (and your other joints and bones, too).
It’s long been known that running increases bone mass, and even helps stem age-related bone loss. But chances are, you’ve had family, friends, and strangers warn you that “running is bad for your knees.” Well, science has proven that it’s not. In fact, studies show that running improves  health.

4. Running will keep you sharper, even as you age.
Worried about “losing it” as you get older? Working out regularly will help you stay “with it.” A December 2012 study published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review concluded that the evidence is insurmountable that regular exercise helps defeat age-related mental decline, particularly functions like task switching, selective attention, and working memory.  Studies consistently found that fitter older adults scored better in mental tests than their unfit peers. What’s more, in stroke patients, regular exercise improves memory, language, thinking, and judgment problems by almost 50%.

5. Running reduces your risk of cancer.
Maybe running doesn’t cure, but there’s plenty of proof that it helps prevent it. A vast review of 170 epidemiological studies in the Journal of Nutrition showed that regular exercise is associated with a lower risk of certain cancers. What’s more, if you already have cancer, running can improve your quality of life while you’re undergoing chemotherapy.

6. Running adds years to your life.
Even if you meet just the minimum of amount of physical activity—(30 minutes, 5 times per week), you’ll live longer. Studies show that when different types of people started exercising, they lived longer. Smokers added 4.1 years to their lives; nonsmokers gained 3 years. Even if you’re still smoking, you’ll get 2.6 more years. Cancer survivors extended their lives by 5.3 years.