We all know exercise is good for you and is incredibly important for living a healthy and balanced life. A great form of exercise that doesn’t require an expensive gym membership, running is free and has a multitude of health benefits. Here’s five of the best.
1. Beat the Blues
When you’re feeling down, probably the last thing on your mind is exercise, all you want to do is wrap up with a tub of ice cream and a good TV series. But if you pull on those trainers and go for a run, you’ll find yourself and your mood feeling a lot better. After just a few minutes of running, hormones begin to be secreted by your brain that improve your mood naturally. There aren’t actually many things that can work as a better, faster treatment for depression than running.
2. Glow with Confidence
Feeling a little low on confidence or wanting a natural way to boost it? Another benefit of running is that it provides a significant boost to your self-esteem and confidence – making you feel happier and better in your skin. Going on a good run will help you develop a sense of achievement and will further motivate and empower you to achieve your goals.
3. Prevent Disease while Shedding Pounds
Running is an excellent way to reduce your risk of many diseases and can improve your condition if you are suffering from one. For women in particular, running helps lower your risk of breast cancer or of having a stroke. For those in the early stages of diabetes, or for those who have high blood pressure or osteoporosis, running is recommended by many doctors. Help arteries retain elasticity and strengthen your heart while running to lower your risk of suffering a heart attack. Of course, all this exercise can help you lose that extra weight too.
4. Stress Relief
Triggering a number of health issues and mood changes, stress also diminishes appetite and the quality of sleep you get. Whether you’re stressed from work, study, a busy schedule or whatever, running helps get rid of excess energy and stress hormones that keep you up at night. Running also reduces your chances of getting a painful tension headache.
5. Overall Health
Boost your immune system, raise your levels of good cholesterol, lower your risk of developing blood clots, improve circulation, and increase your lung function with running. An excellent way to improve your overall health, get that exercise in and improve your mood – take up running and reap the benefits.
