Best 10 Benefits of Running

Most of us know that exercises have a very good influence on our health. Of all exercises,running is one of the most common and most recommended one for staying in shape and boosting our health.

I thought it will be interesting to create a quick list with the most important 10 health related benefits of running. Here is the list:

1. Weight Control

Most people start running because they want to control their body weight. You start loosing weight when you burn more calories than you assimilate, thus making your body turn to the fat it has stored in order to compensate the energy deficit. Running is considered to be one of the most effective exercises when it comes to burning calories. In fact, a typical runner who takes running seriously can burn up to 500 calories in less than an hour.

2. Building Up Your Bones and Muscles

There is a very strong connection between the development of our muscles, bones and effort. Muscles and bones will grow depending on the efforts required of them. By sitting at your desk all day, your bones and muscles will get weaker in time. A very good solving solution for this problem is running, because this exercise is highly demanding on your bones and muscles. Running will trigger bones to become more dense and will also help build muscle tone.

3. Heart and Blood Benefits

In response to running on a regular basis, your heart will be more healthy and your blood pressure will lower. Running also lowers your cholesterol level and reduces the risk of blood clots and heart attacks.

4. Relieving Stress

It’s a proven fact that running lowers stress level. Speed running can also release anger and frustrations and can calm you down. Running long distances can help you find solutions to your problems or, even better, can make you forget about them for awhile and clear your mind for a few moments. After a running session you’ll feel better, be more optimist and have a better morale in general.

5. Building Up Self-Esteem

People who exercise by running have shown to be more confident in their own strengths. After constantly surpassing the limits of your own body, you will get stronger with every run and your self-esteem will build up. Results like loosing weight, stronger muscles or better health in general, after maintaining a rigorous running exercise program, will also make you feel better about yourself.

6. Slowing Down the Aging Process

As mentioned above, regular running exercises will make your bone and muscle structure stronger. Those who live a sedentary life will have a weaker skeleton and muscle loss, thus making them more susceptible to various diseases. Having strong bones and muscles becomes more important as you age and both will leave a mark on your looks.

7. Willpower

Running is not easy. It can be a very painful experience, especially for newcomers and that is why most people drop it after a few runs and fall to their old habits. By surpassing that pain and the temptation to just stay comfortably in your house and postponing the running session for tomorrow, you earn the determination and willpower to succeed in other areas of your life.

8. Boost Body Immunity

Running increases the number of lymphocytes, also known as white blood cells which are essential to your immune system. It also reduces the risk of diseases like breast cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes.

9. Better Coordination

Surprisingly enough, coordination does improve with running. Some people may be reluctant to acknowledge it, since it’s such a simple sport, but running involves coordination especially on hard terrain with small obstacles like rocks and tree roots. Experienced runners who use trails as their rout, learn how to avoid stumbling and tripping on such obstacles.

10. Sleep Better

How much and how well we sleep has a lot to say for our health. After an intense exercise like running, your body needs to recover and repair itself. It is vital that you don’t overexert yourself as this will cause a lot of damage to your body. By keeping this in mind and exercising regularly you will feel more relaxed and you will sleep more soundly and profoundly. Runners usually fall asleep quicker and stay in a deep state of sleep longer than people who aren’t very active.

Hopefully these 10 reasons will be enough for you to get your eyes of the computer, put on a pair of sneakers and go out for a quick run. Go for it!

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10 Best Foods for a Good Night Sleep

How many times did it happen to you to have a bad day!?! How many times did it happen to you to not be in the mood for anything!?! Well, it might help you to know that sometimes bad days or bad mood are the result of an improper sleep during nights.

Sleep brings more energy into people and can make us think clear and in a more positive way. In addition, sleep can also be considered as a method of reliving stress build up during the day.

It is recommended to sleep around 7 or 8 hours a night in order to function at maximum capacity. From a personal point of view, I think that decreasing a little the number of slept hours will not cause any problems. However, exceeding this period can make us feel heavier and lethargic. We should also bear in mind that the time frame allocated for sleep it is important. Going to sleep earlier or later than we have to can also have a negative influence on our after sleep mood. For example, you will fell better even if you sleep less during the normal night period as compared to sleeping more hours but in the day, morning, etc.

Research has shown that less or bad sleep during the night can affect our health. Sleeping 4 hours or less for several days can gradually affect our ability to perform complex tasks. This can also cause several changes in the immunological system, e.g. increase in CRP (C-reactive protein), which is a defense reaction indicator. Other surveys found social inequalities in sleep problems with less sleep recorded for people with low income and low education. A group in Munich and Ingolstadt had determined an influence of a chronic sleep disorder going along with severe sleepiness (narcolepsy) on the processing of emotional stimuli in the human brain. This last finding is a very important proof of the fact that disturbed sleep regulation affects our well being and the interaction with the environment.

Food can help when it comes to getting a solid sleep. The following 10 foods are known to stimulate sleep-inducing hormones like serotonin (an important neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of sleep, anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, etc.) and melatonin (melatonin regulates our body’s perception of night and day and stimulates sleep when night falls. People suffering from insomnia do not produce enough melatonin. Also, stress can reduce the level of melatonin produced by our bodies). In addition, these foods have other positive side effects like relaxing tense muscle, calming stressed minds, etc.

1. Bananas

Bananas contain melatonin and serotonin which are practically some of the best sleep stimulating substances (such substances are frequently used in pharmaceutical industry). In addition, bananas contain magnesium which has a relaxing effect on muscles.

2. Warm milk

As probably a lot of us know from childhood, a glass of warm milk was the solution when we couldn’t fall asleep. The explanation for this would be that milk contains tryptophan, which is an amino acid that has a sedative effect. Moreover, calcium contained by milk helps the brain use tryptophan.

3. Chamomile tea

Chamomile is one of the oldest garden herbs which was considered a universal remedy in ancient Egypt. The plant is usually used for tea making and, as we all know, tea has a relaxing effect and is most often used for this purpose. Chamomile tea is generally known not only for its relaxing effect, but for its sedating effect as well, being in this way the perfect natural antidote for stressed minds and bodies.

4. Honey

Usually, sweet food products provide an extra quantity of energy to our bodies. When we think of extra energy, we definitely do not think of sleeping. However, recent studies have discovered that glucose (like the one contained by honey) can stimulate the brain to reduce the quantity of orexin. Orexin is a recently discovered neurotransmitter that is connected to alertness.

5. Potatoes

Potatoes clear away acids that can interfere with tryptophan amino acid. Baked potatoes can have an even
greater sleep inducing effect if they are combined with warm milk when eaten.

6. Almonds

These nuts contain both tryptophan (sedative effect) amino acid and magnesium (muscle relaxing effect).

7. Oatmeal

Oats are good for a good night’s sleep because they stimulate the production of melatonin.

8. Whole-wheat bread

Eating bread will cause insulin to be released into the body, which helps tryptophan get to the brain where it’s converted to serotonin.

9. Turkey

Turkeys are a very good source of tryptophan. However, bear in mind that tryptophan is most effective when the stomach is basically empty, not full, and when there are some carbs in the stomach, not lots of proteins.

10. Flax seeds

These little seeds are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, acids that act as natural mood lifters. So, when feeling down is what’s keeping you up, these seeds should be considered as antidote.

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