Avoid These Hidden Dangers Of Running To Get A Healthy Exercise

According to exercise guidelines, you should get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week — and running is one of the most popular and easiest forms of exercise. However, running might not always work to your advantage. Sometimes, this form of cardiovascular exercise can actually backfire and not suit you. There is evidence that excessive running can cause damage to the heart. In a few extreme cases, runners have died of heart attacks during events.

Is running every day bad?

Many runners confuse being able to run a fast race with being healthy. But they aren’t the same. There is an optimal level of running for improved health. Running more than this offers no further health benefits and very strenuous running can be harmful.

Unfortunately, if you take a quick look around at your next group run or race, you’ll note that more of your running mates may be classified as unhealthy than they would like to admit – nagging injuries, frequent colds, or unhealthy practices outside running that impact health. [Read more: Circadian Rhythms and the Chinese Medicine Body Clock]

For runners who are injury prone, detrained, or suffer from chronic conditions such as arthritis, running every day is not advised. Instead, reduce your weekly running volume and increase other cross-training modalities that work best for your body and support running including walking, swimming, cycling, strength-training, and yoga. [Read more: The benefits of Tai Chi]

Women need to be more cautious about running

1. Your core might not be strong enough for it Running requires a very strong central portion of our bodies, namely, deep abdominals, pelvic floor, gluteal and hip muscles. These are the exact muscles that get weak in a woman—especially when she is in pre or postnatal stage. If you want to reap the benefits of running without letting it damage your spine, you can start by working on your core muscles first, strengthen them with a proper workout routine focusing on this area, and include running in your routine after that. [Read more: Women's health]

2. Your bones might not support it Women’s joint cartilages have been proven to degenerate faster than that of men. This means that running can cause an early onset of arthritis in the weight-bearing joints of women who run. Starting slow and building your bone strength with the help of resistance training can help. [Read more: Osteoporosis Prevention with TCM]

3. Pre-existing damage Pre-existing issues such as pelvic floor weakness or urinary incontinence can cause running to backfire and vice-versa. The degree of damage depends on the structural damage to the pelvis and vaginal area during childbirth or after menopause.

4. The size of the pelvis Biologically, most women have a bigger pelvic area and thus, wider hips and heavier thighs. This can add to the burden on their knees (patella-femoral issues), making the knees more prone to an injury/pain after running which subjects the knee to a lot of pressure.

Moderation is the key

The relationship between aerobic exercise and health is dose-dependent: exercise a little and you get a significant benefit; work to the recommended guidelines and you get the maximum benefit. The health benefits plateau when you exceed the recommended guidelines, and if you greatly exceed the guidelines you start to damage your health. [Read more: Simple mindfulness exercises]

This knowledge has very important implications for public health programmes. Exhorting sedentary people to start exercising to the official recommended guidelines is all well and good, but many people are so daunted by the prospect of going from zero minutes exercise per week to 150 minutes, they decide to do nothing. [Read more: The Psychology Behind Weight Loss And Maintaining The Result] [Read more: How To Get The Right Mindset For Weight Loss]

It would be better to exhort all people to start a little regular exercise, even if less than the guidelines. Start with a small and controllable exercise regularly. Increase the intensity or duration gradually. Combine running with different other forms of exercise to allow a more well-rounded training and avoid over-stressing certain parts of the body. Sometimes, slow is fast if your direction is clear and correct; while fast is slow if you do not have a proper knowledge, awareness and foundation for your target.