6 scientifically proven facts about running
Most likely, you heard the statement that “Sport is a medicine”. And these are not simple words. It is scientifically proven that running has benefits that are many times superior to the benefits of any medication: it helps prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, some types of cancer, and also inhibits the development and manifestation of other dangerous diseases. Moreover, scientists have found that running significantly improves the emotional and psychological state and even prolongs life! Let’s take a look at what other benefits regular running can bring us.
Everyone knows that while you exercise, calories are burned. However, this is not all. Studies have found that regular exercise leads to an increase in the number of calories burned at the end of a workout. (Scientists call this condition EPOC - additional oxygen consumption after exercise). And most importantly, in order to achieve such an effect, you do not need to wind circles around the stadium at the speed of light. It occurs when the intensity of your physical activity is about 70 percent of the IPC. (This is slightly faster than the lightest pace, and slightly slower than the marathon).
Worried about losing everything with age? Regular exercise will help you avoid this. A 2012 study published in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review proves that aerobic exercise helps with age-related deterioration in mental state, in particular functions such as task switching, selective attention, and short-term memory. The results of many studies invariably confirm that elderly participants in sports show much higher results in tests of mental abilities than those who are in poor physical shape. Moreover, among patients with stroke, regular physical activity leads to an improvement in memory, speech, thinking and reasoning ability by almost 50 percent. The team of researchers revealed "significant improvements" in the brain as a whole at the end of the experiment, and the most positive changes are associated with attention, ability to concentrate, plan and organize.