5 Ways Jogging Impacts Your Health

Every day, regardless of the time or the temperature outside, there’s a jogger to be found. Sweat pouring, face-reddening, and overall physically grueling— there’s something about this workout that gets people going, and rightly so.

Jogging positively impacts the entire body, both physically and mentally. Here are five ways jogging impacts your health:

The Heart

Jogging is a great form of cardio and has amazing heart health benefits. It strengthens the cardiovascular system and can reduce the risk of heart disease by about 50%.

According to the British Heart Foundation, about 10,000 deaths from heart attacks can be prevented each year by regular exercise. Those with inactive lifestyles are putting a lot of stress on their hearts, which can beat 36,000 times more per day than that of joggers.

Why is this? Jogging makes arteries more elastic as it expands and contracts.

The Lungs

Jogging may make you breathe heavier (deep breathing uses up to 50% more lung tissue usage), but for good reason. In order to keep up with the increased heart function, your lungs go on overdrive.

Think of jogging as weightlifting for the lungs, for an intense strength workout.

At least that burning feeling in your lungs has a great benefit: it makes exercise more efficient and effortless.

The Bones

It’s true— jogging is a high-impact workout that puts a lot of stress on bones. From shin splints to hairline fractures and everything else in between, jogging, like everything else has their risk.

What many people may not realize are the benefits that jogging has on bones.

With each stride, muscles tighten and pound together; the shock of it makes the vertebrae compress. So, temporarily, runners undergo a beneficial shrinking process that lasts a few hours. Long-term though creates bone-strengthening. To make your bones more strong you can use also use different kinds of fitness equipment for exercise.

Metabolism

Age affects all things, especially in terms of maintaining a healthy weight. From diet pills, instant weight loss solutions, etc., people constantly strive to find ways to keep the pounds off.

To lose weight, a person’s caloric intake needs to be less than the total of daily calories burned. Runners/joggers have no problem with this— they can burn an average of 100 calories per mile.

Joggers naturally increase their body’s metabolic rate; not only during a run but for several hours afterward. This means a jogger is continuously burning calories, even while doing absolutely nothing.

Mental Health

Jogging benefits people beyond just the physical. It is nature’s way of combating depression, anxiety, and other psychological disorders.

Endorphins, which create feelings of euphoria are released when a person jogs; this is often referred to as a “runner’s high.”

The more active the runner, the more endorphins they release. In effect, jogging on a regular basis will create a state of clarity and level-headedness that only artificial pills can otherwise produce.

While there are a number of sports and exercises that can improve physical and mental health, jogging offers the most practical solution to complete-body wellness. From the inside out, the effects of jogging are unmatched.