Is It Ok To Run Everyday? (What Are The Benefits Of Running Daily?)
Running can be addictive, making you want to do it daily. That raises the question is it ok to run every day? Is it safe, healthy, or beneficial?
When it comes to exercise, running is a great choice. Running is a pretty cost-effective and active method of exercise that can help you boost your mood.
Running following a schedule can improve your fitness and significantly affect your mood!
However, there are significant drawbacks if you are running every day! If you want to know why then this is the right place!
Read on to know more about why you should not run daily and in what ways it can affect you!
Before we rush off to the topic, let us quickly revise the positives of running daily!
Benefits Of Running Daily
Even slow running for 10 to 15 minutes daily has been scientifically proven to reduce the potential risk of death due to strokes, heart attacks, and many common diseases. For beginners, it means running one mile daily. For the more experienced, it is running 2 miles a day.
According to a study, the benefits of running begin to plateau at about 4.5 hours of running per week. Those who ran more than that didn’t live longer. This means you don’t have to run twice a day, let alone even once a day!
Running is a pretty high-impact exercise, and if you are doing it regularly, you are just overtraining them. And overtraining your muscles can result in stress fractures and shin splints.
Now, if you run for 10 to 15 minutes a day, here are the benefits:
- Reduces the chances of death due to stroke or heart attacks
- Reduces the risks of cardiovascular diseases
- Reduces the risks of developing cancer
- Reduces the risks of developing diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer
- It improves your sleep quality, enhances your cognition, and reduces stress.
Is It Going To Be Safe If You Run Every Day?
While there are plenty of benefits to running, you should keep yourself from doing so every day!
Running every day means you are overtraining your muscles. Yes, it is an excellent form of exercise, and exercising is very important.
In contrast, keeping your tissues fresh and giving them time to relax and adjust is equally essential as well. If the same tissue gets overtrained with the same exercise, it can cause injury.
Repetitive trauma causes severe risks of overuse injury. These forms of injuries include injuries in your ligaments, tendons, and muscles. It can also cause fractures, and you may have to bear pain and inflammation.
How Frequently Should You Run?
Knowing that running every day for long hours can affect your muscles, you should limit it to three to four days per week.
Like most aerobic exercises, running has a significant impact on your body. It helps in keeping your blood pressure in check and reduces the chances of strokes and cancers.
Not only that, but it also boosts your stamina, reduces fatigue, and improves your muscle strength.
Do not forget to stretch out after each session!
How Should You Run Every Day?
When doing this exercise, you are doing it wrong if you pick up speed at once. It is not how you should do it!
Begin with a regular walk, then gradually increase speed to a moderate walk! Start with this, and after a few minutes, pick up the appropriate speed for an easy jog.
Then increase your speed, and maintain your pace! Before you end your run, drop down your speed, and end it with a slow walk.
Gradually increase your mileage by 10% a week. And you are all set!
To be able to run every day, you need to follow up on these:
Use Comfy Gears
You need a good pair of running shoes and socks when running every day. Running shoes must be comfortable, or else they can end up causing severe blisters on your feet!
Get some sweat-resistant T-shirts and shorts. If you wish to run early in the morning or night, do not forget to put on a reflective vest!
Set Up A Plan
If you are to run every day, you need to develop a plan. Now that you have discovered that if you run every day, you are more likely to end up with muscle inflammation or something else. So, to avoid that, you need to set up a weekly plan!
It will help you avoid risks of injury, and your muscles will get a sufficient amount of time to relax!
Signs to Determine You Need a Break
Rest days are equally essential as working days! If you experience any of the following signs, you may have to take a rest day or extend it.
- Soreness Persists – any of us would experience muscle soreness if we go through some high-impact training like running. But, if you see the soreness persist for more than 72 hours, it is a clear sign that your body needs more resting time.
- Swelling – there is a higher chance that your body is injured if you see the soreness worsening with swelling. It can happen in a joint or muscle. If this happens, you need to extend your resting period and avoid strenuous activities.
- Making You Compensate – if the soreness is making you move differently, it means your body has not yet healed!
The resting period depends on how problematic it is. This is why you need to follow proper techniques for every form of exercise!
The most common mental mistake new runners make is trying to do too much too soon. It takes time and patience to build stamina.
Recovery is just as crucial to runners as practice. To allow your body to recover properly, you should ensure that you get enough sleep and rest days.
Need of Cross-Training
Doing the same exercise over and over again results in overtraining your muscles. Here comes the need for cross-training.
It is okay to run, but it is also important to cross-train. Cross-training helps in distributing the tension equally. A single or a particular set of muscles do not get overtrained.
Furthermore, cross-training helps in conditioning those sets of muscles that help you with running!
The Bottom Line
Now that you have through the lines of this article, I hope you have found the help you need.
So, will you be running every day? What do you think?
If you like to run, you should consider running three to five days a week. It is a pretty high-impact form of exercise that has many positives!
But, if you overdo it, there might be painful consequences. And do not forget to get a hold of the comfortable gears. They play a very important role in running and safeguarding your skin.
Good Luck!
