Physical fitness is essential for
health and efficiency. Running is among
the favorite means for millions of people. In fact, it is fascinating to note that
running has been the favorite choice for centuries.
Quoting a survey conducted in 2014, Guardian
says that there were 10.5 million runners in UK alone whose reasons for running
included “maintaining fitness”, “stress relief, “a new challenge” and
“competition”. Psychologists studying ultra-marathon runners recently
concluded that the motivation was not
muscle-building or chasing PBs, but attaining the state of mind known as “flow”.
However, another study of 3,500
runners across seven European countries, revealed that 40% of them ran for the
sole purpose of losing weight. However, it is not easy to achieve weight-loss
just by running, for, theoretically speaking, losing 0.45kg involves burning off
3,500 calories, the equivalent of about 35 miles of running.
One of the reasons is that, the more
we exercise, the more the body naturally tries to compensate by altering our
metabolism through a series of evolutionary-based protective mechanisms which
are designed to prevent starvation and indefinite weight loss.
There was
another interesting study conducted by Dr. Beth Taylor of Hartford University,
found health benefits of running. It found that the marathon runners were
significantly thinner than their partners, although few of the partners were
overweight. The runners also generally had lower blood pressure, heart rates,
bad cholesterol and other indicators of cardiac health.
Over all, according
to Dr. Taylor’s study, if you’re training for a marathon or otherwise doing frequent
and prolonged endurance exercise, you’re probably not hurting your heart and
are likely strengthening it.
Perhaps
the more surprising takeaway of the study is that marathon training’s cardiac
benefits may be transferable. “The spouses of the runners were quite healthy,
too,” she pointed out. More so than many people, they walked and moved around
frequently, and had generally robust cardiac risk profiles.
If you
want improved heart health but can’t be a runner, marry one, is Dr. Taylor’s
conclusion.
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