Wellcure
Wellcure
03:10 PM | 24-06-2021
Have you been wanting to lose weight, tone up your legs, feel great, reduce stress, and sleep well? One simple way to achieve all of the above is Running.
Running is much more than you have imagined. It works upon your entire body:
It is a great cardio exercise
It uplifts your mood & mental health
It builds the best leg muscles (you can own the calf muscles to die for!)
It helps you lose weight
Well, before jumping onto grabbing your shoes & going out for a run, read below. You want to be aware and be prepared before taking up Running!
What Happens In Your Body When You Run?
As you start to run, during the first 60-90 seconds, your muscles start using Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) for energy. ATP is an energy molecule that our body stores after breaking down the food.
As the store of ATP reduces, your cells will start burning up glycogen (a glucose molecule stored in muscles) to make more ATP. To get more glucose, your cells will start pulling up glucose from your bloodstream (this reduces sugar levels). So, ATP burning is great! This process burns fat too.
However, as more glucose is used in your body, your muscles start releasing lactic acid - that’s when you feel muscle fatigue and pain. Don’t panic at this point. Your heart will start pumping harder to supply more blood to your muscles. This whole burning of molecules needs a lot of oxygen, and that’s why you will now start breathing deeper & faster. These reactions also increase your body temperature and you start sweating. Sweating is your body’s way to keep you cool and prevent overheating.
The lactic acid in your muscles will build more if you are a newbie or not used to working out. That’s you will feel more fatigued. At this point, it is good to turn your run into a jog, take a few breaths, and pick up the pace again when you feel comfortable.
How Does Running Help You?
All of these reactions happening in your body during running greatly enhance your physical and mental well being:
Weight Loss: Running is one of the best ways to burn calories and lose weight. It might take more than 2-3 weeks to show a little difference, and could be a long drawn process. Aim for developing a habit of running for sustained weight loss. Your age, rate of metabolism and health conditions such as thyroid or PCOS might affect weight loss as well. Add running to the other solutions for managing the weight gain induced by these conditions.
Toned Legs: If you’re aiming for envious calf muscles and glutes, running is the way to go. It is an astounding workout for your entire legs (including thighs).
Better Sleep: Say bye to insomniac nights, as running is an intense physical activity that increases your ‘deep sleep time’. You will be able to sleep better and wake up fresher than ever. Just avoid running before bedtime, the best time to run is in the mornings.
Happier Mind: Running releases endorphins, which are the happiness hormones, and endocannabinoid neurotransmitters that prompt your brain to give you a sense of achievement. Have you heard of a Runner’s High? It is a state of extreme joy or euphoria that you feel after running - you experience this state after running. It helps you get rid of anxiety & stress too.
Healthier Heart: Running improves blood circulation, reduces your LDL (bad cholesterol) level, and strengthens your heart walls (muscles). In essence, it is a workout to increase your heart’s efficiency and health. By running regularly you can cut down the risk of heart diseases by 35 - 50%.
Improved Blood Circulation: A healthier heart and pumped-up muscles lead to better blood circulation throughout your body. Runners have stronger hearts which pump out more blood and oxygen per heartbeat.
Great Detox: Running gets your Lymphatic System moving at a healthy rate. The lymphatic system’s key function is to eliminate toxins and other wastes from your body, with the help of lymph (a fluid that carries the infection-fighting ‘white blood cells’). So, better movement of lymph leads to removal of toxins and a greater reach of immune system cells to all the organs.
Better Circulation of Nutrients & Hormones: Good blood circulation transports the nutrients and hormones efficiently throughout the body, which are crucial for conducting several bodily functions. As per Nature Cure, better circulation of blood and nutrients help in healing pains and other health conditions.
Should You Run Outdoors or Indoors (Treadmill)?
While there are pros and cons of both of these environments for running, running outdoors is a more natural phenomenon. It lets you connect to the elements of nature, breathe in fresher air, absorb the sunlight and adjust your body to the weather.
Running Outdoors: When you are out on any terrain, it works up your muscles in different ways. For example, you can run uphill or downhill, you can take turns, there is wind resistance which makes you work harder to run and hence burn more calories, it is more motivating and allows you to enjoy nature, it doesn’t cost anything and also helps you train for marathons or other forms of road races. However, it can be difficult to run outdoors in inclement weather - too much heat, snow, or rain can be a limiting factor.
Running Indoors: You can avoid weather constraints while running indoors, you can control your pace and train in specific conditions, treadmills offer better shock absorption than the ground outdoors - it puts less stress on knees and ankles.
How Much Should You Run?
New runners should train themselves gradually, giving their bodies ample adaptation period. Of course, you can run 7 days a week, but is it good to run every day?
Beginners: If you are new to running, your aim should be to accustom your body to run, see how your body responds to it, how much are you able to run comfortably. Your first run should be a maximum of 2-3 Km. Try doing 2-3 runs of 20-30 mins each/ week. Keep an easy pace, break into jogs or a walk when you feel tired, and stop before you are completely exhausted. You can keep adding 5-10 minutes of running every second week. Try doing a ‘long run’ each week - which is almost 10 minutes more than your usual run, this will help you increase your endurance.
Seasoned Runners can run from 4 to 7 days a week, depending on their levels of training and fitness, and where they are in their respective running journeys.
When To Run?
Morning is the best time to run because as per the circadian rhythm, this is the time of elimination of toxins from the body. When we run, our lymphatic system gets a boost (as explained above), and transports toxins out of the body more efficiently.
Avoid running after meals, it interferes with the process of digestion. Wait for 3 to 4 hours after a large meal, and 1-2 hours after eating a snack to grab your running shoes!
What to Eat?
If you eat as per nature cure, your body will have enough reserves of energy and nutrients. Then, you might not feel the need to eat anything before running. In fact, then you might not feel the hunger pangs after running also. That’s why it is important to look at our food holistically, instead of focusing on pre/post running/workout meals. What we eat throughout the day or our regular food habits make an impact on our energy levels.
However, if you feel the need then you can eat these things before running in the morning: Some soaked dates, a fruit or a smoothie such as - banana spinach smoothie (the spinach in it will provide the protein as well). If you choose to run in the evening, you can eat some soaked almonds, walnuts or other dried fruits of your choice or a fruit.
After the run, eat a bowl of fruits or plant-based smoothie / drink a glass of detox juice/ coconut water and hydrate yourself with water
Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet: A number of runners and athletes have proven that a vegan or plant-based diet does not adversely affect their performance in any way. Ultra-runner Scott Jurek follows a plant-based diet, tennis legend Serena Williams prefers a raw food diet, Mike Tyson & even Arnold Schwarzenegger now advocate a plant-based diet, stating that they can meet their protein, carbs, and other nutritional requirements from 100% vegan foods! Read the food & fitness journey of Nikita, a fitness enthusiast who loves running & other high-impact activities.
Do’s & Don’ts:
Don’t Binge: Keep a healthy snack or meal ready that you can eat after running, if you feel hungry. Make sure that you don’t binge on unhealthy or sugary foods and gain back the calories that you just burnt!
Running Gear: It is crucial to have a good and comfortable pair of running shoes and sports underwear (for women). To avoid black and chipped toenails, see that your shoes have enough space for your toes to move and they don’t get rubbed with the roof of shoes too much.
Don’t run when you are sick: Though this can be debatable and every person’s capacity to do physical activity during sickness may differ, our body heals better when we rest. Resting conserves our vitality (the natural healing force) and helps us recover faster.
This is your complete guide to start running. Grab on your shoes, pick up some good tunes and hit the lanes running. You are sure to experience a lot of health benefits!
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Disclaimer: The health journeys, blogs, videos and all other content on Wellcure is for educational purposes only and is not to be considered a ‘medical advice’ ‘prescription’ or a ‘cure’ for diseases. Any specific changes by users, in medication, food & lifestyle, must be done under the guidance of licensed health practitioners. The views expressed by the users are their personal views and Wellcure claims no responsibility for them.
