12 Top Health Benefits Of Jogging

1) Improved Cardiovascular Fitness

One of the first health benefits of jogging you will experience is

improved cardiovascular fitness. Cardiovascular fitness (also known

as cardiorespiratory endurance or aerobic fitness) refers to how

efficient the heart, lungs and vascular system (the vessels that carry

blood and lymph through the body) are at delivering oxygen to the

muscles that need it and also how efficient these muscles become at

using the oxygen. As your cardiovascular fitness improves your lung

capacity increases meaning that you can take in more oxygen with each

breath. Your heart’s stroke volume also increases meaning that with

each pump it can transport more blood and oxygen through the vascular

system to the muscles. Finally, your muscles become more efficient at

absorbing oxygen meaning that they can take more oxygen molecules from

the blood.

The overall effect is that with each breath you take in more oxygen,

with each pump your heart transports more oxygen to your muscles and

finally your muscles are able to utilise more of this oxygen. With

improved cardiovascular fitness comes further health benefits such as

improved endurance, reduced risk of heart disease and reduced body

fat. I will be discussing all these additional health benefits of

jogging below.

2) Reduced Blood Pressure

Reduced blood pressure is another of the important health benefits of

jogging. Blood pressure refers to the force with which your blood

pushes against your blood vessel walls. If your blood pressure

becomes too high it weakens your blood vessel walls which makes them

more susceptible to aneurysms (bulging), atherosclerosis (the build up

of fatty substances on the blood vessel walls) and hemorrhage

(bursting).

The overall impact is that the flow of blood to and from your heart

gets restricted causing it to become weak whilst at the same time

having to work increasingly hard to pump blood through these blocked

or damaged blood vessels. Over time this leads to the onset of heart

attacks and heart disease. High blood pressure can also cause

significant damage to your brain, your kidneys, your cardiac muscles

and your eyes.

No one knows exactly what causes high blood pressure. However, there

are a number of risk factors and one of these is poor cardiovascular

fitness. Therefore, by improving your cardiovascular fitness through

jogging you can reduce your blood pressure and avoid the associated

complications.

3) Increased HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) Cholesterol

Another of the key health benefits of jogging is increased HDL

cholesterol levels. HDL cholesterol (also known as good cholesterol)

helps control your overall cholesterol levels by scraping your blood

vessels for excess cholesterol and then carrying it to the liver where

it can be processed and excreted. If this excess cholesterol is not

removed it may form plaque on your blood vessel walls which causes

them to harden and become blocked. This then restricts the flow of

blood to and from your heart which (as discussed above) ultimately

causes heart attacks and heart disease. Improving your cardiovascular

fitness increases your HDL cholesterol levels and in this way

exercises such as jogging support a healthy heart and vascular system.

4) Reduced Risk Of Heart Disease

By improving your cardiovascular fitness your heart becomes stronger

and more efficient. A strong heart is more resistant to disease and

is also under less pressure as it does not have to work as hard to

pump blood around the body. Improving your cardiovascular fitness

also lowers your blood pressure and increases your HDL cholesterol

levels which further protects you from heart disease. Therefore, one

of the further health benefits of jogging is a reduced risk of heart

disease which comes from the improved cardiovascular fitness.

5) Improved Endurance

In simple terms, oxygen allows your body to release and use the energy

that you get from food. The more efficient your body is at using

oxygen, the more energy you can produce during exercise. As discussed

above, improving your cardiovascular fitness increases the volume of

oxygen you can take in with each breath, increases the amount of

oxygen pumped with each heartbeat and increases the volume of oxygen

your muscles absorb. Therefore, another of the health benefits of

jogging is increased energy levels and improved endurance which allow

you to jog for longer.

6) Stronger Bones

When your bones are placed under stress they are forced to adapt and

this leads to an increase in bone mineral density. Weight bearing

exercises such as walking, jogging and weight lifting all stimulate an

increase in bone mineral density. The benefit of this is stronger

bones that are less likely to bend, fracture and break.

7) Reduced Cancer Risk

One of the long term health benefits of jogging is a significant

reduction in cancer risk. Regular cardiovascular exercise such as

jogging is thought to reduce your colon cancer risk by as much as 50%

plus it also lowers your chances of contracting breast cancer, lung

cancer, ovarian cancer and prostate cancer.

8) Prevention And Treatment Of Diabetes

Another of the fantastic health benefits of jogging is that it can act

as a great defence against diabetes. Although no one knows what

causes diabetes a sedentary lifestyle and being overweight are two of

the main risk factors. Both of these risk factors can be negated by

jogging regularly. Pre-diabetes can also be prevented from developing

into full type 2 diabetes by doing more exercise. Even if full

diabetes develops exercises such as jogging are a very effective

treatment tool.

9) Stronger Immune System

There are a number of studies which link regular exercise with a

strong immune system. There are a number of reasons behind this.

First, regular exercise is thought to stimulate the production of

lymphocytes (white blood cells) and macrophages (cells which attack

bacteria). Secondly, consistent exercise is believed to make immune

system cells circulate through the body more quickly and also make

them more efficient at fighting bacteria and viruses.

10) Improved Mental Fitness

Jogging does not just impact your physical fitness. Another of the

brilliant benefits of jogging is that it improves your mental fitness

too. First, it can build confidence and self image because you are

constantly challenging yourself and changing the way your body looks.

Secondly, it can help you overcome anger and stress by giving you an

escape from the pressures of day to day life. Thirdly, it can boost

your mood through the release of endorphins (hormones which produce a

sense of happiness and well being). Finally, it can help you become

more focused and determined as your will to succeed with your jogging

becomes a skill that can be transferred to other areas of your life.

11) Reduced Body Fat Levels

Fat loss is one of the key health benefits of jogging. An average

person burns about 150 calories per mile jogged. So if you go for a

five mile jog four times per week you will burn approximately 3,000

extra calories each week (750 calories per jog).

Furthermore, cardiovascular exercises such as jogging can also

increase the number of calories you burn whilst resting. According to

this article you can burn up to 15% more calories than normal in the

48 hours after you exercise. So if your metabolism dictates that you

burn 2000 calories a day you can potentially burn an extra 300

calories per day (2100 calories per week) from this post exercise

boost.

The overall impact is a notable increase in calories burned per week.

Jogging can help you burn calories as you jog and whilst you rest.

Provided that you carry on eating the same as you were before you

started jogging this should equate to a reduction in body fat levels.

12) Improved Sleep

One of the final health benefits of jogging is that it may help you

sleep better. According to this article, cardiovascular exercises

such as jogging (particularly in the morning) can help improve your

sleep patterns. The study suggests that exercising in the morning

helps people set their circadian rhythms to be awake during the day

and asleep during the night. Exercise also has a number of positive

effects on your mental fitness (as discussed above) which are believed

to help you relax and free your mind, making you ready to fall asleep

at night.

Regards,