Have you been running more in lockdown or just started?

Running has been part of my life for many years now. When I was a teenager, I could think of nothing worse than the PE session when we would have to do cross country. Why was it that it seemed to be the coldest and wettest day ever when we had to do this?!

How many of you remember coming back in from cross country with bright red, sore quads from the wind and rain persistently whipping at your legs! I do! This image stuck with me for a long time and whenever someone would mention going for a run, all those delightful memories would come flooding back!

So how is it that now, some years later, if I can’t run, then I end up being frustrated, a bit anxsty and annoyed with the world! It’s simple – I’m in love with running! What running does for my body and mind is to be quite honest, really quite amazing.

It’s fair to say that running is present in my life on a daily basis. Not necessarily with me going for a run each day as I know that rest days from running are important. But there are always running magazines scattered around - trainers by the door, running belts for holding race day fuel, or a running belt to take my dog with me; all can be found in our house.

I’m lucky too that my husband loves to run and is in fact as ex-professional runner, as he gets it. He gets it when I have to leave the house before anyone else is awake or that I sneak in another strength and conditioning or HIIT session before the kids are up!

I’ve been very fortunate too to have a running buddy who is on the same wave length as me. I can always guarantee that she’ll be up at the same time as me and is just as eager to get out! We’ve been running together for years now and try to meet up at least twice a week for a run – work and family commitments permitting of course.

Now since COVID 19 appeared we can all appreciate how different things have been. How our old normal way of life seems like an eternity ago and that our new way of living will take a little time to adjust to. Thank goodness though that we were never stopped from exercising outside; I’m not quite sure how my body or my mind would have coped with that.

Running as medicine

So many of us use exercise as a form of movement therapy and medicine. If you’re having a day where nothing seems to be going right for you or things have been a bit overwhelming then there is nothing better than getting your trainers on, lacing up and getting outside.

It’s free, it’s accessible and there’s plenty of space around. Plus, you get a great boost of Vitamin D when you spend at least 20 minutes outside (fantastic for our immune system and also our bone health).

Running benefits our health in so many ways. Our cardiac health improves along with improvements in the function of our nervous system. Our vascular health will improve greatly as we focus more on the correct way to breath. Using the correct breathing pattern will also allow our diaphragm to function correctly and this is turn can have significant positive implications for our pelvic health and function too. (If you want to know more about this then please get in touch. As a Holistic Core Restore® coach I specialise in pelvic floor and core health and dysfunction).

We know that running can also help with our weight management, especially when you combine it with strength and conditioning work (high intensity power Pilates® and Barre) and restorative movement also (such as my Pilates and yoga sessions).

Running for our mental health

running for emotional and mental health and wellbeing

But it is not just our physical health that it benefits. Running has been helping hugely with our psychological health and mental health.

We have seen a huge surge of people either starting to run from a beginner level or increasing their weekly running during the lockdown period. This is not just because it is free and easy to access, but it is mainly in part to helping us keep sane and feel as though we have some form of normality in our lives.

I asked the question to some of my running friends about how it has helped them during this time. The majority of people agreed that it was helping them feel grounded and stay sane. At present there are studies around running and mental health which are still not complete yet a lot of the evidence that running makes you feel better mentally has come from runners experiences themselves.

Despite the links to running and mental health, I still firmly believe that there is a big contributing factor between running and improved mental health and wellbeing.

If you think about the physiological responses that our body experiences when we run. A study by Georgia Stathopoulou et al in 2006 showed that aerobic exercise can be as effective as anti-depressants. Running is an aerobic exercise (and anaerobic also) and therefore has been linked to helping with depression. Runners often feel more objective whilst running and feel more focused during and after a run. Running can stop the ‘loop’ of thoughts that can be going around in their head.

We have all heard about the feel good hormone endorphine which is released when we run. This hormone makes us feel great and is a fantastic hormone to alleviate stress and feelings of anxiety. But are we as familiar with the hormone dopamine which makes the action of running so addictive?

Dopamine is made by your body and is a type of neurotransmitter and a hormone. It is used by your nervous system to send messages to your nerve cells and is a way in which we can feel pleasure. Dopamine is released during activities that allow us to feel pleasure and it stimulates your mind to seek out the activity or thing that caused you this pleasure time and time again.

Therefore, when running makes you feel good and leaves you with a smile on your face and feeling good, then you understandably will seek out this feel good factor over and over again.

Use running to break free from technology

With the above in mind, if we did a survey of how many people ran with their phones, I bet it would be quite high. If you do run with your phone do you use it for music, to have it there for safety in case of an accident or is it to make sure you don’t miss out on someone calling you or so you can check on your social media?

Simon Sinek presents a very interesting talk on how addiction to technology is ruining lives and how any time we receive a notification on our phone, or a like on our Instagram post, that dopamine is released from our body to keep us wanting more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=sL8AsaEJDdo&feature=emb_title

It’s pretty safe to say that during lockdown the usage of screen time in one form or another has increased exponentially. Not just for children but for adults too.

Maybe give this a thought when you next go out running. If you must run with your phone then do yourself a favour for both body and mind. Turn off your notifications, pay no attention to your social media and just let yourself be present in the moment. You may surprise yourself with just how easy this can be and how clear your mind can feel when you have a break from a screen.

Sleep like a baby!

Running makes me sleep well. That is something which I am grateful of. I am especially grateful for this during these tricky times. I imagine some of us will have had sleepless nights or restless nights worrying about finances, job security, family and friends. Plus wondering what would happen if you became unwell yourself. All of these feelings are so normal and expected at such a time.

To find a way to switch your mind off for a brief period of time during the day and to then help you settle into a good state of deep REM sleep is so important – even more so at the moment when our brain especially has had to readjust to a different routine and is feeling a bit confused. Sleeping well will ensure that the stress hormone cortisol is not going to rear its ugly head during the night and that your body will have the opportunity to rest and recharge.

Running has allowed us to continue to feel as though we have a sense of purpose and control. It has given us the opportunity to appreciate our surroundings more and perhaps stop taking for granted all that we have on our doorstep.

Creating a new routine in life

Running will give you the chance to reconnect back to yourself and to nature and to take a step back from the humdrum busy lifestyles that many of us have been living without realising it.

The huge change to our daily routine has left us with brain fog, a lack of motivation and drive to do what would normally come easy to us. However, if you take the time to plan your runs into your week then you are creating a new routine in your life and allowing the frontal cortex of your brain to continue to function in the way that it was designed to. To help with our cognition, our decision making, planning and critical thought.

To keep our brain active in times of adversity will make the transition back to some form of normal life a little easier than if we just let it stagnate and lose the ability to create new neurons on a regular basis.

When we feel as though we haven’t accomplished anything in our day this can be extremely demotivating. Demotivation and a lack of drive or purpose are not the feelings we want to be experiencing at the moment.

Research around running has shown that many people who finish a run feel as though they have achieved a goal which can often be enough of a feeling to counter negative thoughts, relieving feelings of anxiety as they have been able to achieve a realistic goal.

When all is said and done running is very much a personal thing. It can be seen as a bit like marmite; you either love it or you hate it. None of us want to be living in the current situation that we are in and would do anything to wave a magic wand to make all of this go away. Sadly, that’s not possible.

But running can be there to help you, to give you a purpose, to reconnect back to some time for yourself or to establish a new way of making you feel good. There are many running groups which are still running together virtually and providing support for themselves and others in this time of need.

Just try it one step at a time. Invest in a good pair of trainers, personally my favourite are the new Launch 7 by Brooks. I have run in Brooks trainers for years now and can highly recommend them. A good pair of socks to prevent blisters and some comfortable running wear is all that you need to set yourself up and send you on your way.

5 ways in which running has helped us during the pandemic