200 Miles into Our Quest for 2015! Seven Reasons Why You Should Run

Yes, we hit the 200 mile mark this week in our quest to run 2015 miles in 2015! Now we only have 1815 miles to go!

 We actually would be a little further towards our goals, but a few days of laziness took over earlier in the week! Yes, it happens to all of us. It’s been cold and damp so running outside was not appealing; and the treadmill was not as appealing as my pillow! Luckily, I realized after putting two zero days in a row in my log, that it meant I now had miles to make up. Not a good thing when you are trying to be more consistent. It’s also a team quest and Art was not happy with the zero entries! The sad face gets me every time!!! The logbook and all you blog readers got me back on track! The weather this weekend really helped with making up the miles as well.

So a common question I have been asked in the last few weeks is “Why exactly do you run?” I think people are curious if we become endorphin junkies or are we just health nuts? I think the reason each of us run is so personal that I figured I would just answer the question with good reasons why we should run. In fact, I think everyone that can run (or walk briskly) should try to do it every day.

Why should you run (or exercise) every day? The quick answer is because it keeps your energy levels up, keeps your heart healthy and really helps maintain your weight. But it actually does so much more!

Seven Benefits of Daily Exercise:

1.     It lowers your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. According to the 2014 World Alzheimer’s report, regular exercise is one of the best ways to combat cognitive mental deterioration. This is thought to be because it improves circulation to your brain! It also significantly increases the size of the hippocampus, which is the memory area of your brain!

2.     It makes you look younger by making your skin glow. This is actually true! Working out improves oxygen and blood flow to your skin and sweating gets rid of skin toxins! A win:win!

3.     It improves your sex life! Why do you think runners are so happy? Just kidding, but regular exercise has been shown to boost energy and feelings of attractiveness, which leads to increased sexual performance. I’m not going to explain this one in depth, but exercise decreases the need for the little blue pill lol!

4.     It will help you crave junk food less. Yes, you may be hungrier but you will crave junk food less due to a suppression of a hormone called ghrelin (not gremlin like the spell check thought!) which is thought to be responsible for pesky food cravings.

5.     It makes you happy! Yes, runners are happier! Physical activity improves overall mental health by the release of endorphins. These are chemicals that reduce pain perception while triggering positive emotions. Having a bad day? Go for a run!

6.     It decreases the risk for the two most common cancers: breast cancer and prostate cancer! The American Cancer Society relates regular exercise as one of the best ways to reduce cancer risks! Enough said!

7.     And contrary to some crazy studies that have recently been publicized, you will live longer! Regular exercise, defined as 150 minutes of brisk walking per week – 2.5 hours, per week, will increase your life expectancy by 3.5 to 4.5 years!

Have I made a good point that to get out of bed and run/walk/sweat doing anything every day is really a great idea?! So instead of asking me why I run, why don’t you join me!