Running can provide you with a lot of health benefits and it is one of the cheapest ways to exercise compared to other types of workouts. Its intensity promotes fitness and efficiently burns more calories than other activities.
The intensity of running leads to the release of endorphins in many people creating an energy buzz. Let’s look at the pros and cons of running as a form of exercise.
Pros:
1. Lose weight: Running can help you lose weight. It enables you to burn more calories quickly than other forms of exercises making it more attractive to those who want to control their weight.
2. Improve mood: Having a good run can improve your mood. Many people tend to have that euphoric feeling when the body begins to produce endorphins during the running exercise.
3. Gain muscles: Running can help you in losing muscle fat increase on your lean muscles. This boosts your muscle mass and helps you gain more muscles.
4. Improve brain performance: Short aerobic exercises like running can help improve brain performance due to an increased flow of oxygen and blood in the brain.
5. Increase oxygen levels: Running can help you to increase oxygen carrying capacity increasing the health of your vital organs. It increases your heartbeat for a consistent period of time and also strengthens the heart muscles that increase the efficiency to pump oxygen throughout the body.
6. Increased metabolism: Running is a form of aerobic exercise which helps in building your bone density making your body strong. A strong body results in increased metabolism which boosts your overall health.
7. Better sleep: Having a daily morning run will contribute to better sleep at night. It also reduces sleeping problems by reducing depression and anxiety.
8. Reduce blood pressure: A few minutes run in a day can reduce the risk of blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and diabetes.
9. Reduce cardiovascular diseases: Running increases blood circulation and improves the heart rate thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
10. Increase lifespan: Running not only reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease but also prolong your lifespan by three years. Exercising regularly add more years to your life.
Cons:
1. Peer pressure: Connecting with other runners can put you into temptations when they invite for a challenge of running faster and further. If you don’t run at your own pace, you put yourself at risk of burnout, injury, and feeling defeated.
2. Injuries: Running can cause an injury if you push yourself too hard or use improper form. It traumatizes the body like joints in the legs, knees, on your back as well as the kidney.
3. Open to abuse: Many people run addictively such that it’s impossible to live without it due to certain circumstances. Some other people use it as a form of punishment thinking they benefit by being torturous to the body.
4. Damage body: Extreme stress of running under heat or in midday sun can damage your body especially your urinary systems and cardiovascular system.
5. Exhaust fumes: If you run on the streets with heavy traffic, you’re likely to take in a lot of exhaust fumes due to your breath being stimulated by this aerobic exercise.
6. Weight gain: Increase in muscle mass and glycogen and increased appetite can lead to weight gain especially if training for long distance. Eating and drinking excess calories to satisfy your hunger after running add more to your weight.
7. Can get expensive: To make running enjoyable, you need to have sports shoes, sunglasses, and compression sleeves, among others. You may not need high-tech gear but you need to feel comfortable while running.
8. Skin cancer: High-intensity running under solar can stimulate cytokines proteins which suppress cell immunity and this can lead to skin cancer and increase the risk of other infections.
9. Osteoarthritis: Running puts more weights in the lower joint more than the body weight leading to osteoarthritis.
10. Breast sagging: If you don’t wear the right sports bra, it will lead to irreversible sagging of your breast.
