Just like lots of people know the physical and physiological benefits of running, there are also a lot of people who might be wondering if there is any psychological benefit of running. The fact is that there are so many psychological benefits of running.
· Stress and anxiety Relief: many people decide to run frequently to work against the stress and anxiety they experience either at work, home or some other source. It is actually documented that experts advise people to do exercises like running to tackle the level of stress.
· Feeling of excitement: you can get the feeling of excitement which could last for hours from running. Therefore, if you are feeling down, try running for some minutes and see yourself with the happy feeling.
· Better sleep: for some people the best benefit of running is having a good sleep. When you are always bored or you have problems sleeping, it might be that you are not getting enough exercise which your body needs. The biggest benefit of running for me is better sleep. When your body is not doing any strenuous exercise during the day try running and sleep will come just the way you want it. However, when doing this exercise, do it about 3 hours before bed.
Other psychological benefits of running include the following: having confidence in anything you do, reaching set goals, better memory, and reduced tiredness. Running can also be used to work against a problem many people have- addiction (no matter what it is).
First Step: Weight Training – I know it sounds kind of funny and weird, but not running and doing some weight training or resistance training can actually improve your running times and strength. I am not saying that you should not run, by any means! But adding weight training or resistance training three times a week on top of your running workouts, will definitely help your running strength. You do not have to be running all the time.
Now lets talk about the part of the body that actually propels you forward…your legs. Lets face it, you could not run if you had no legs. There is a difference between sprinting and endurance running. If you are sprinting, you will want to lift your knees up higher for maximum power, but we are focusing on endurance running. With endurance it is not necessary to bring your knees up as high as would if you were sprinting, you simply could not keep that pace for a long endurance run. You do not want a long stride, nor do you want a very short stride, but you want to make sure that you feel comfortable in your stride. It is better to be on the shorter side of stride, than the longer side. You will save energy and will protect your knees better.
It all starts with your head, if your head is correct it is easier for your body to fall into position. So make sure you are not looking down. I blame treadmills for the bad habit of looking down, because when people run on a treadmill they always tend to look down at the clock, their distance, or maybe they are looking to see how many calories they have burned. For whatever reason it is, it is teaching bad habits. There are even certain treadmills that have TV’s installed that help people get in the bad habit of looking down. We need to look ahead, face forward, look to the horizon. When you keep your eyes ahead it will align your head with your spine, and you will help your body to last longer during the workout.
