Running to Clear Your Mind: Unveiling the Powerful Mental Health Benefits
Running
Releases so much more than just sweat
You might have heard that running is one of the best solutions to clear your mind. You might have even experienced it. I certainly have, countless times!
There is something about running that just helps to release the stress of the day. Running can also jump start a really positive day. Think about a time when you got out early in the morning and saw a beautiful sunrise. Remember how good it felt to have started the day doing something healthy, positive and productive with that time.
I have created this blog to give us a chance to stop and reflect on why running is so powerful when it comes to our mental health and clearing our minds. I hope this helps you to keep going, as for many of us, this is our WHY and our deeper motivation behind running; how it makes us FEEL. When it’s raining and windy outside it can help to think about all these benefits!
Time for you
We live in a fast paced world and you deserve some time each day just for you. When we don’t get this, we can become unnecessarily cranky and stressed. Or relationships might suffer and we can end up in quite a negative spiral of events.
Setting aside some time for a run (or even a walk!) helps to clear the head among many other benefits. According to the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology, this happens because new neurons are activated and blood flow is increased in regions of the brain involved with learning and emotion. Other studies have noted an increase of blood flow to the brain's frontal lobe, which is involved with clear thinking, planning ahead, focus and concentration. There is no wonder we sometimes come up with super creative ideas on a run or can come back and tackle the world with ease!
Time in nature and time to be present
I am a big fan of the benefits of mindfulness and running really allows you to practice mindfulness, particularly when doing trail running. “Mindfulness is the idea of learning how to be fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings without distraction or judgment” Headspace website.
When I am running on trails and I am having to focus on where I am putting my feet, I find that I can only really focus on that one thing at that time. It becomes the only thing on my mind, giving me distance and space from the thoughts that might have been around before the run. I soon find that my stress, worries and to do lists dissipate quite quickly. Thoughts will come and go, but I get lots of practice bringing myself back to the present when I am trail running and I am training my brain to be more in the moment. This then gets carried into my daily life, allowing me to manage stress better and clear the mind more easily at other times.
Work on yourself
Fitting even just 20 minutes of running in to your day will allow you to keep working on yourself and making progress in your health. Sometimes we might have to take a smaller step as life can throw things at us that we just don’t expect. On days where you really want to do an hour, but can’t, instead of doing nothing go out for 20 minutes. Possibly you could also listen to an inspiring podcast at the time and learning about something that interests you whilst you exercise.
You do have the time to clear your mind everyday
Start thinking about how you have an abundance of time (rather than saying ‘I don’t have time’). Just think about all the people who did Red January and managed to be active everyday for this notoriously challenging month for people’s mental health. Thousands of people and so many who did not think they could fit in some exercise each day and were so pleasantly surprised by how possible it actually was. When you put your mind to something, you will achieve it.
Remember, start small and 20 or even 10 minutes is better than none. You deserve a break and to reap the mental and physical health benefits each day.
As an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and a Running Coach, I can help you to achieve your health and running goals faster than you can alone. If you are ready to leave procrastination behind and start taking action, set up a free health coaching call with me now!