Running a couple of miles a day can lead to quite surprising results. Not only will it decrease mortality risk but also help in weight control among other things. We are going to look at the exact benefits and the science behind those benefits of running 2 miles a day in this article.
Running 2 miles a day doesn’t just make you feel better, improve your mood, and give you that “runner’s high” – energy enough to easily focus on productive tasks throughout the day. It does so much more to your body that you will be thankful for.
Tip of the iceberg: The common benefits of running 2 miles a day
Let’s start with the very top.
Countless research papers and lifestyle coaches have claimed that running 2 miles a day can provide a series of benefits that become perceptible within a few short weeks. Here are a few of these “first wave benefits” you are likely to experience when you run for 2 miles a day too:
- It can easily improve your heart and lung capacity.
- Running 2 miles a day can provide a natural mood boost.
- It strengthens your immune system.
- It can lower your risk of chronic diseases and consequently, improve your life expectancy by a lot.
- It also helps control your weight or aids in weight loss.
We will focus on the three leading reasons why people run: improvement in mood, weight loss, and reduced risk of coronary disease.
Running for mood improvement
Running 2 miles a day every day can help boost your mood and promote healthy brain activity. It allows you to clear your head, which, in turn, boosts your productivity throughout the day.
Thanks to this natural mood enhancer, your entire lifestyle stands to benefit if you run regularly. You will be significantly happier, more productive, and less stressed regardless of what job title you have or what circumstances you are living in.
Overall, running for 2 miles a day can help you improve your quality of life. Your brain functions the best when the body is active. Over time, better athleticism and fitness will provide ample mental benefits as your body ages.
Running for weight loss
Running is perhaps the first activity that comes to mind when people think of home-based weight loss or weight control. And rightfully so! Running is a great way to lose weight, and if you are not actively looking for weight loss, remember that running is also a great way to control and manage your weight within a balanced range.
Of course, there is more at play here. We would be remiss to not note the key role played by your larger lifestyle, and especially diet, in weight management and strength training. If you are running for 2 miles a day while living a predominantly sedentary life with a lot of junk food, sadly running alone won’t be sufficient to offset the heavy calorie intake.
However, it can still keep you active and physically fit. Show the same conviction to getting rid of all the vices in your lifestyle habits and you will be on your way to better health and weight management.
Running to reduce coronary complications
The heart is a vital organ. Though there are several ways to care for other organs, or at least ways to not stress them, there’s little we can do for our heart health. For example, if you have liver complications your diet alone can solve them, or if you drink then stopping your alcohol intake can also help. But what about heart complications?
You guessed it.
Running is one of the best and few ways in which you can help your heart stay fit and complication-free. A largely inactive lifestyle can run you the risk of early heart problems, which can quickly translate into bigger and more serious issues. When left unchecked, it becomes a dumpster fire refusing to go out. You can get out of this mess early with just a little bit of precaution.
Running 2 miles a day will reduce your risk of heart diseases and coronary complications in general. Running essentially starts by helping you shed unnecessary and extra fat. All this fat is bad for your health but especially bad for your heart as it has to make more effort to pump the blood around a body loaded with unnecessary fat.
Even if you are at a healthy weight, running can further improve your cardiovascular health. How? Well, you would be essentially reducing your body mass (different you’re your body’s weight) – which in turn helps you improve your heart rate and triglyceride levels.
The heart is a delicate machine. The more work it has to do, the more likely it is to have problems. A healthy lifestyle can easily help you maintain better heart health. Studies have also shown that running increases your maximum oxygen uptake notably. This allows your body to improve good cholesterol levels, which is another factor that aids in better heart health.
In conclusion: Benefits of running 2 miles a day
Make it your everyday morning tradition. Get up, pull on your running clothes, lace up the shoes, and out the door. Not only just a better way to clear your head but a great mood enhancer and energy booster as well, this one single task can improve your life quite remarkably.
If you are not already in a habit of running, then now is the time to get into it. Give it 2-3 weeks and running every day will become a habit hard to kill regardless of what circumstances you are in. Here are some running tips if you are new to the activity.
We highly recommend a physically active lifestyle in the modern world. There is simply no such effort-effective way to maximize your health benefits while staying fit than running 2 miles a day.
Note that if you are just beginning and not particularly fit, running for 2 miles a day can be equated to overtraining. If you want to keep up the motivation and not fall victim to the complications of overtraining, then we recommend you start slower and increase it to 2 miles gradually over a month.
