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Murakimi says, “first there came the action of running and accompanying it there was this entity known as me. I run; therefore I am.”
Humans started walking around 4-6 million years ago when we evolved from all fours and rose. Walking and running have been the primary mode of moving around for humans for many centuries and for many still are. About ten thousand years ago, hunter-gatherers like the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico ran 15-75 miles a day on a hunt. Somewhere along, all these humans started jogging too.
Jogging and running are fundamentally not very different. Both are aerobic exercises. Aerobic means “with oxygen,” and “aerobic exercise” is any physical activity that produces energy by combining oxygen with blood glucose or body fat. The one difference between jogging and running is the intensity. Running requires more kilojoules and demands more effort from the heart, lungs and muscles than jogging which is less intense and slower.
Though jogging is not taken as seriously in the running world, it has long-term benefits that might be much more rewarding in the later stages of your life. Due to the pace and intensity of jogging it puts less stress on your knees, feet and other organs, which hugely reduces the risk of injury. In jogging, the probability of twisting your ankle or injuring your heel is lesser. Because jogging is steady and takes more time than running, you might sometimes burn more calories based on the distance and difficulty level of your jog.
So what are the benefits of this moderate aerobic exercise? How can it impact our daily life? Below is a discussion about the nine benefits of jogging and why you should jog more regularly.
1. Maintains body weight
Any kind of cardio helps you lose weight. And which better to start with than jogging. Jogging engages many muscles simultaneously and boosts your metabolism aiding in losing and maintaining weight along with burning fat.
2. Pushes you over your workout procrastination
According to several studies, walking is the most popular form of exercise. But walking alone sometimes may not be enough for you to hit your target. Jogging is the simplest alternative to increase your heart rate high enough. And if you feel plateaued when walking then jogging helps you pump up your heart rate and makes you active by putting some more effort. It puts you on your feet and encourages you to work out more.
3. Strengthens your immune system
For a very long time, many people thought vigorous exercise makes one susceptible to infections and weakens you. But research has shown that it was only a myth. On the contrary, it actually improves your immune system. Regular moderate exercise, like jogging, actually strengthens the body’s response to illness.
4. Improves bone strength
Due to its steady and meticulous nature, jogging helps you build bone strength. Jogging prepares the bones to bear the additional stress. It eventually helps in enduring this stress regularly, preventing bone trauma and injuries. Jogging makes you work a lot of bones with less stress regularly making them stronger like the bones of the hip and spine.
5. Boosts the respiratory system
It’s very common for beginners to get breathless or left gasping for air after climbing a flight of stairs or jogging for a while. Aerobic exercise like jogging enhances lung capacity and strengthens the muscles of the respiratory system. It increases the endurance capacity of your respiratory muscles (including the diaphragm and intercostal muscles), allowing deeper, fuller, and more efficient breaths while jogging, ensuring that the lungs take in more oxygen and efficiently remove carbon dioxide.
6. Improves cardiovascular health
When you jog/exercise, two organs in your body tend to do a lot of work, the lungs and the heart. Jogging utilizes both fatty acids and carbohydrates for energy. Studyshows that light and moderate joggers have lower mortality than sedentary non-joggers. In simple terms, jogging improves your cardiovascular health decreasing the risks of heart attacks.
7. Prevents infectious and communicable diseases and boosts immunity
Jogging stimulates the production of lymphocytes and macrophages that combat infection in the body. Research shows exercise and immunity kind of go hand in hand. Jogging causes change in antibodies and white blood cells (WBC). These WBCs circulate more rapidly to detect illness earlier than they might have before.
8. Helps cope with stress and depression
Jogging has a calming effect on the mind. It greatly helps you relieve stress and cope with depression keeping your thoughts clear. Scientific studies show that physical activity is an effective prevention strategy for depression. Jogging outdoors regularly gives you the required health and sun light benefits for a better sleep cycle. It tends to change people to have a more positive outlook towards daily life.
9. Improves brain health
Jogging is one of the easiest ways to stay fit, both mentally and physically. Researchshows that short running/jogging sessions improved the brain’s executive function – a set of processes that include attention, planning, memory, organization, and impulse control. It also improves the blood flow to the prefrontal cortex, which plays an essential role in controlling mood and execution of functions.
Arguably one of the easiest exercises ever, jogging is for almost anyone and everyone. It helps you stay fit without the use of any fancy equipment or trainers. If you are looking to improve your fitness level, there is no excuse for you not to start jogging and if you are already a jogger then the above discussion should hopefully make you keep jogging.
Image source: unsplash.com
Author: Somrita Ganchoudhuri
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