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Magazine
FITNESS MATTERS
Reasons to run
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Running regularly can help you live your life more fully. RAHUL VERGHESE
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Photo: PTI
For a healthy life: Running brings innumerable benefits.
Jim Fixx is credited with starting America’s health revolution and popularising running by demonstrating the health benefits of a regular running schedule. He started running at 35 in 1967, being 108 kg and a heavy smoker; his father had died o
f a heart attack at 42 after suffering a massive one at 35. When his The Complete Book of Running came out in 1977, he was 28 kg lighter and did not smoke at all. At the age of 52, Jim Fixx died of a massive heart attack while on a run and he was found to have three arteries with 50-95 per cent blockages and that’s when several detractors pooh-poohed his claims and said that running was bad for the health.
Given his medical history, others said it had added years to his life.
Today, especially in India, there are many of us who are inertia-ridden, who feel walking is the best exercise. If that was the case, India would not be the diabetic and cardio death capital of the world.
I would like to tackle a few myths around running that I come across quite frequently and urge you to take a balanced view because it is your life. Too much of anything is bad — however in India when we are just starting off, let’s not focus only on the issues related to the minimal likelihood of overtraining.
Bad for the heart
I saw an article on the Web — How to keep from having a heart attack: Do less aerobic exercise — by Dr. William Wong MD. One of the key issues he focuses on is inflammation of the arteries caused by running which can be managed by intake of vitamin B12 and E, Folic acid, Magnesium, Potassium and Selenium, and reduced physical and mental stress.
He then talks about Jim Fixx and a few other marathoners but does not go into health backgrounds and statistics of the hundreds of millions of people who run and live healthier, as has been shown and proven time and again which point to stronger heart muscles, reduced bad cholesterol, increased good cholesterol, more elastic arteries, improved blood circulation and more. Mental stress and hypertension reduction is another benefit of running, which goes to tackle one of the causes of heart problems.
I can’t run at my age
That is a reason most people quote, while extolling several virtues of running. Buster Martin, at 101 has registered to run in the 2008 London Marathon and is training along with Fauja Singh, 97. So if you are above 101, you may be right since we don’t know if running is good for you.
We have our issues and blocks in the mind, more than in our arteries.
The secret is making a start. As John Bingham, an American writer on running and a runner himself says, “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”
I am slim, I don’t need to run
A study in Brunel University, U.K., found that naturally thin people really do need to exercise to stay healthy. The study found that “LDL-cholesterol, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ that clogs-up the arteries, was significantly higher in lean non-exercisers than in those who take regular aerobic exercise.”
In addition, other benefits of impact-related exercises like running — benefits to the bones, building cardio vascular strength, helping manage diabetes and sinusitis while energising the body and providing a huge dose of self confidence and building self esteem — are also required by naturally slim people.
Set reasonable health goals and you will achieve them without changing your lifestyle. You have one life on this planet and you should live it to the fullest, and never compromise on your health goals.
You have to look at yourself in the mirror and examine some of the lifestyle choices you have made so far and say to yourself — “I need to make a change for myself, because that is the only way I can better care for my family or business or company”. Don’t be reasonable here. My lifestyle has changed dramatically since I started running. I have become more aware of my body and do many more things in moderation. But believe me, I am no ascetic, so I am not one to urge you to go into sanyas right away, unless you want to.
Sleep a half hour earlier, say no to a party once in a while, say no to that last drink, and say yes to getting up a half hour earlier and say yes to more regular eating habits, say yes to some running — perhaps 30 minutes a day, 3-4 days a week, and…..
Make small changes on several fronts and if you do it gradually, you wont even feel it, but you will start feeling healthier.
Running is bad for the knees
It is bad if you have the wrong shoes, follow the wrong regimen, run very long runs on hard surfaces, do no strength training for the lower body. I am still a lay person but having run close to 15,000 km in the last seven years and 23 marathons, all this post turning 40, I have a little more confidence in my statement.
However what sealed the deal was when I met with Dr. Sanjiv Marya, the renowned knee replacement surgeon and FICS Director Orthopaedics & institute of Joint Surgery Max Health Care, who said, “Running increases the mineral density of the bone and reduces the risk of osteoporosis with age. It has been found that the average bone mineral density in the thigh is 5 per cent higher in runners than their non-running companions and 8 per cent higher than those who did not exercise at all, making them less susceptible to fracture following trivial falls.
Running builds and strengthens muscle tissue, especially in the lower limbs. Increased muscle strength also provides a protective cover to the joints.
It is unclear if long-distance running causes the hip and knee joints to deteriorate. The current evidence suggests that moderate level of running does not increase the risk of osteoarthritis of hip and knee for healthy people. In fact there is evidence to suggest that this activity might even have some protective effect on the joints. In addition, a recent study by the University of Exeter concluded that running is better than walking.
Rhabdomyolysis and renal failure may also occur after excessive muscular activity, such as sporadic strenuous exercise (e.g., marathons).
Too much of anything is bad. But in a country like India, where less than one per cent of the population does anything remotely connected to running, broad statements about overdoing exercise is a bit misplaced.
As with anything in life, you need to ease into running, with an appropriate schedule; use the right gear, drink enough water, eat right and then enjoy the run and enjoy life.
So, now what?
When we are babies, we first learn to turn over, then sit up, then crawl, and then walk and run. We need to follow that philosophy in all that we do.
You are entitled to live a healthy life, don’t let any myths stop you. When you read something which sounds very positive or very negative, check the statistics and see that the sample is not biased. If you go to a cancer hospital surgical ward, you may come back with lower statistics of survival than if you looked at statistics of cancer patients across the nation and went through treatment and wellness statistics.
Look beyond what you read and see, and enjoy your life. It’s yours! Happy running and living!!
The writer left a 25-year corporate career to found a company to enable individuals and organisations to unleash their potential via running.
www.runningandliving.com
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