Is Running Good or Bad for You?
Running is one of the most popular types of cardiovascular exercise, with those who run boasting a multitude of physical and mental benefits. Running regularly leads to stronger bones and muscles, improved cardiovascular health, and the ability to maintain a healthy weight. A favoured benefit experienced by runners is the “runner’s high” that occurs post-run. When you run, your heart is beating harder and faster, consequently pumping blood around your body faster, which releases endorphins into the bloodstream, making you feel exhilarated and happy.
Despite the many epic advantages of running, many runners experience a number of injuries and complications due to the impact of the repetitive force on the legs, knees, and feet. A number of studies can be found to prove and disprove both the positive and negative impacts of running, which leads us to the question, is running actually bad for you?
What are the long term impacts on your heart and body?
Do the benefits of running outweigh the risks?
How can you optimise the good benefits of running, and minimise the potential negative impacts?
In this article, we explore both sides of the argument, and provide recommendations to help you optimise your running performance.
What is running good for?
Running is a particularly popular form of cardiovascular exercise due to its accessibility, affordability, and positive impact on the body, both physically and mentally. You can run anywhere, anytime, and it costs you nothing.
A 2014 study that had followed 55,000 for 15 years concluded that moderate amounts of running, around 50 minutes per week, can increase lifespan by an average of 3 years. There are a plethora of cardiovascular benefits, with runners experiencing a 30-45% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality when compared with non-runners. The following are a few more notable benefits of regular running.
Running improves your bone density.
Running is great for our bone health by providing necessary forces through the muscles, joints and bones. This requires the body to adapt at cellular levels to continue to build stronger and healthier bones. It lowers your risk of osteoporosis and broken bones, which is especially important as you age.
Running improves your cardiovascular health.
As running is primarily cardiovascular in nature it helps to improve and maintain your heart and lungs. Our heart is a strong muscular organ and as it adapts to the exercises it becomes efficient in pumping blood and oxygen around the body.
Running can improve your mental health.
Runners experience a “runner’s high” post-run thanks to the boost in endorphins from this intensive cardiovascular exercise. Endorphins are the brain’s natural feel-good chemicals, and boosting them results in improvement in mood, a boosted metabolism, a positive sense of wellbeing and lowered risk of depression.
Running enhances the quality of your sleep.
Thanks to the increase in blood flow through the body stimulated through running, organ function improves which consequently improves your quality of sleep.
So, how is running ‘bad’ for you?
Running is a high impact, repetitive exercise and certainly has potential for injuries. As with any sport or exercise there is always risk of injury. The level of risk varies with your current level of health and fitness, previous injuries and appropriate training programs.
With running, one of the most common things we see is people going too hard too soon. A sudden spike in running load is common. When we run or exercise it places a certain level of stress on the body’s joints and tissues (which is a normal process). However, if we increase the amount of running in a short space of time there may be inappropriate time for the body to adapt to this load. Insufficient time to recover can create an imbalance in the tissue and expose the runner to injury if this is not addressed.
Another factor to consider is your current level of exercise. If you have a history of running and your body is well adapted to physical loading then your body's capacity to tolerate running will be higher. If you are starting from a lower base, to reduce injury it may take longer to build up your resilience to this activity.
The final risk of injury is previous injury. So if you have experienced an injury and have not had this addressed a great starting point is discussing this with your Physiotherapist. They will help address any underlying factors and find an appropriate program to minimise injury risk.
The most common running injuries include:
Shin Splints
Runner’s Knee (pain in the knee cap)
Achilles Tendinopathy
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Plantar Fasciitis
Stress Fractures
The good news is that these are all preventable. The running itself is not bad, but the associated injuries tend to give running a bad wrap. So understanding the importance of past history and injury, progressive loading and underlying risk factors will help you to safely start or continue your running journey.
How do you avoid injury whilst running?
Your body is very good at making you aware of your limits, so if you want to run most efficiently, it’s crucial that you listen to your body, monitor your own fitness levels and don’t overtrain. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your running, aiming to minimise your potential for injury:
Increase distance incrementally.
As mentioned, one of the biggest mistakes runners make is taking on too much too soon. Unless you have a specific program from a professional, a nice guideline to follow is increasing your distance by 10% each week.
Wear Proper Footwear.
The cushioning in your shoes helps absorb the impact from landing, so unsuitable footwear increases your potential for injury. Ensure you invest in good shoes, and try to replace them every 650km or so.
Diversify your training.
Strength training is essential in preparing your body to tolerate the impact of running. The stronger your muscles are the better your body is able to absorb force and protect your bones and joints. Cross training exercise such as bike riding or swimming are other great cardiovascular options to mix up your fitness.
Be mindful of the surface.
Our body slowly adapts to the surface we are running on. However changing frequently between soft and hard can cause too much change for the body and potentially increasing our load, particularly of the feet and legs.
Recovery.
Ensure you have adequate time in between your running sessions. Your program should involve some rest days from running. Sleep is when our body does most of our recovery, repairing our cells and tissue. So ensuring good sleep hygiene is a great way to avoid injury.
Hydrate.
Ensure you hydrate adequately before, during and after running. This will help with recovery and fatigue. Just make sure you don’t guzzle down too much water before your run, or you may find yourself with painful cramps.
The verdict: Is running good or bad for you?
Exercise is a crucial component of a balanced, healthy lifestyle, but like everything else, you have to get the dosage right. There are a variety of scientifically proven physical, mental and emotional health benefits associated with running, however, as with all strenuous exercises, it is not injury-proof; some runners experience no problems, others are more prone to injury. Each individual is different and while you can’t change your genetics, you can positively impact the way you perform by training smarter, not harder.
Overall, running is an excellent, life-enhancing cardiovascular exercise that can be enjoyed at every age and experience level, but there are necessary precautions you must take to ensure you train safely, and protect your body long-term. Working harder and more vigorously is not always better. To ensure you are training in the safest and most efficient way possible, we recommend consulting your Physiotherapist and Exercise Physiotherapist regularly.
If you don’t like running, there are plenty of other cardiovascular exercises you can engage in to experience the same physical, mental and endorphin-boosting benefits, such as rowing, cycling, or even swinging a kettlebell. Shorter sessions of anaerobic training like fast-paced resistance training or sprints can be just as good for your heart health, and may even be better at maintaining muscle and increasing your aerobic fitness.
If you’re new to running, or looking to get back into running after an injury, you can book in with one of our Physiotherapists here.