Run Your Way to Being A Healthier Student

1. Boosts Your Mood, Sleep, and Concentration

Three things that are key to staying mentally fit and making you a healthy student: your mood, your sleep habits, and your ability to concentrate. According to a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health done in 2012, running electrifies all of these things. It releases endorphins that make you happy, it helps you get better quality sleep, and improves your ability to concentrate. Just by running for 30 minutes a day, you can gain these three benefits, so why not give it a try?

2. Strengthens Your Knees and Joints

It’s important to have a strong and healthy body as an adult and in your geriatric life, but the key to getting to that point is by strengthening your body now in your prime stage of life. Running is an exercise that requires a lot of effort from your knees and joints, so overdoing it right out of the gate can cause soreness and pain, but with the right amount and right kind of stretching, using your knees and joints to run can make them stronger and can increase your agility throughout your whole life. 

3. Reduces Your Risk of Cancer

While running isn’t labeled a cure for cancer, it is definitely labeled a proven preventative. The way that running gets your blood flowing, your heart rate up, your lungs working to capacity, and overall strength and endurance it gives you all point to reducing the risk of cancer. So why not do something that makes you feel great, is good for you, and prevents your body from something as serious as cancer?

4. Gear is Retail Therapy and Motivation All in One

Getting in shape is an excuse to splurge on some new gear. Getting new shoes that fir your properly, give you support in your ankles and shins, and are the right style for the kind of running you plan to do is a very important thing. Other fun items to invest in are good running clothes- fast-drying and breathable clothes are best to avoid breaking out from sweat, chafing, and any irritation. Plus, when you have new gear ready to run in, it motivates you actually do it. Sport those new shoes and shorts and hit the pavement!

5. You Don’t Have to be “Good” 

A lot of times when you play sports as a means of exercise, you kind of have to be decent at that sport, otherwise you aren’t getting the full benefit of the workout. But with running, it’s almost impossible to be “bad” at. It’s a natural instinct to be able to pick up your pace to change your movement from a walk to a job to a run, so even if you don’t have the same technique as a seasoned marathon runner, you’ll still reap in all the benefits. Plus, you can run solo, with a partner, or in groups to help set your pace and keep yourself accountable to your routine.

5. Running is an “Anywhere” Exercise

Unlike cross-fit, lifting weights, or playing sports, all you need to get a run in is your shoes and a place to do it. You don’t need a gym, you don’t need a court, and you don’t need any equipment. You can take your running work out with you anywhere, anytime, and can do it inside or out. Of course, if you do it inside, a treadmill is ideal, but there are ways to work the system if that isn’t an option. Quick intervals back and forth are easy to do in tight spaces, and running in place is a virtually “spaceless” exercise. 

Wherever you are in your journey as a runner, as long as you are getting out there, you have the right to call yourself one. No matter your speed, your endurance, how often you run, or how hard you push yourself, the hardest step is the first one, and that one is just getting our there and doing it. Clear your mind and reset your body by going for a run, and you will thank yourself later for years to come.