Did you know that running can improve your mental health? It’s true! Running has a slew of amazing benefits for your mind and body. Today we’re going to take a closer look at some of those benefits and show you why running is such an excellent way to boost your mood and keep your mind and body healthy and happy. Running has helped me with my mental health journey and I would like to share how it did.
Therefore, if you’re looking for a way to improve your mental and body health, here you’ll find some interesting mental health running details/tips.
How May Running Help Me?
Decrease Stress and Anxiety
Running can help improve your mental health in several ways. For one, it can help reduce stress and anxiety. It also helps boost endorphins, which are the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. When you run, many neurotransmitters are released, including endorphins, endocannabinoids, and dopamine. Exercises such as a great run also promote neuroplasticity and increase the oxygen supply to your brain. The lowering of stress and anxiety directly correlates to an increase in positive thinking and productivity.
Cited Study – A Scoping Review of the Relationship between Running and Mental Health
Improve self-confidence
Improved self-esteem and confidence are also linked to running. Regular exercise has been connected to increased body image and better self-compassion (in several studies). As a result, being physically active might be an excellent method to boost one’s self-esteem and feel good about one’s physique.
Check out this 2020 case study below:
In a 2020 study – Running increased mood, happiness and outlook, while relieving anger, depression and aggression; 36.4% of participants reported “improving mental health” as a reason to start running. Emotional benefits from running reported were more self-confident (59.1% of respondents), happier (56.8%), better mood (50.0%), relieved tension (45.5%), better self-image (36.4%), relieved depression (36.4%), more aggression (36.4%), improved outlook (34.1%), more content (31.8%) and better family relationship (15.9%). However, when participants stopped running, 38.6% experienced low mood and 25.0% experienced anxiousness. More experienced runners, compared to less experienced runners, were less aggressive or easily angered.
Promote better sleep
Running can help you sleep better at night, in addition to reducing stress. Sleeping well is a frequently overlooked aspect of mental wellness. Although several elements influence your sleep quality, the degree of physical activity appears to have an impact. A study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that running helped people fall asleep faster and improved their sleep quality overall.
If you don’t feel that you are getting enough sleep because of a lack of quality, consider trying to incorporate regular exercise — regardless of the type — into your daily routine.
Cited Study – Interrelationship between Sleep and Exercise: A Systematic Review
Since I started my journey into endurance sports, I focus highly on my recovery and tracking my sleep score. I personally use a software band called WHOOP, along with my multi-sport Garmin to ensure I’m gaining the best recovery score possible. I used to go out and just crush a run or workout without paying attention to my recovery. This method caused me to become sluggish and reduced my sleep quality. In future posts, I’ll be sure to cover my recovery tips and how I raised my score from “red” to mostly the “green-zone”.
May promote sharper memory and thinking
In addition to its numerous advantages for mental health, running has been shown in studies to have beneficial impacts on your thinking and memory. Regular exercise has been shown to improve cognitive functioning and attention span. In addition, exercise has been found to help prevent cognitive deterioration in adults over the age of 50.
Regular exercise can help you live a healthy life and improve your general mental health, but it may also aid in the treatment of certain mental health problems, as linked above.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a way to improve your mental health, running is a great option. It has a plethora of benefits, including reducing stress, anxiety, promoting better sleep, and improving self-confidence. Give it a try today! You might be surprised at how much running can improve your mental health.
Happy running and if you have any questions please let me know!
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