5 Surprising Benefits of Running 5km Every Day

I’ve been running 5km every day this week, and it’s changed my life! I feel happier, healthier, and more energetic than ever before – what’s your excuse? Running 5km every day can be a great way to clear your head, get rid of the stress of the day, and just feel better about yourself in general. Here are some surprising benefits that have made me love running 5km every day!

• Running makes you stress less

A huge body of research shows that exercise can help reduce stress and anxiety—and a daily run is one of the best ways to fit it into your routine. A University of Georgia study found that runners with busy schedules had lower stress levels than those who didn’t run at all. If you struggle with overbooking yourself, look for small ways to sneak in some exercise, like taking a quick walk during lunch or parking farther away from work so you have to stroll a bit farther. Just make sure to stick with it—running only helps fight off stress if you actually do it regularly!

• It improves your memory

Just like lifting weights, aerobic exercise helps improve your memory, according to a 2012 study published in Scientific Reports. In addition to improving your ability to remember words and faces, researchers found that participants who ran a total of six miles a week also improved their visuospatial memory—the part of your brain that lets you picture objects in space. Experts say regular exercise can help prevent age-related mental decline as well as increase cognitive function. Simply put: By running five kilometers every day, you're preventing dementia before it even starts. And how many other activities do that?

• It makes you more confident

When you start running five kilometers every day, you’ll discover that it’s not as difficult as you think. This physical activity will make you strong and more confident with your body. Try it today! Run five kilometers every day for a month and you’ll see how different it is from one week to another. Before, running five kilometers seemed like an impossible task, but now? Well, that’s just a minor distance – nothing serious or fancy! Now add strength training exercises to that routine and in less than two months, people will notice changes in your overall appearance: stronger muscles and better posture! You might even look younger!

• Better sleep quality

Studies show that sleep quality can suffer when we don’t regularly hit a certain number of steps per day. We don’t know for sure why, but we suspect it has something to do with our body telling us it needs a break if we haven’t moved around enough during the day. And while you don’t have to run every single day in order to reap these rewards, hitting your step goal each day will help keep your quality and quantity consistent. Good sleep is very important to good health, and setting up a daily running habit is one way to ensure you get what you need in terms of both quantity and quality.

• You get better with time.

As you run more and more, your body becomes better at dealing with fatigue. Even more important is that your muscles begin to work in synchronicity. As you become a runner, running takes less effort because your brain has learned how to relax your muscles and keep them functioning for longer periods of time (which makes it easier for blood to carry oxygen around your body). In addition, regular runners generally have denser bones than non-runners because bone marrow produces stem cells that become new bone. This means that starting an exercise program later in life won't necessarily decrease bone density like so many people believe. In fact, regular weight-bearing exercise can actually help prevent osteoporosis (bone-thinning).

• Your mood changes from bad to good

High-intensity interval training boosts endorphins and releases serotonin, which will leave you feeling less stressed and more happy. In other words, running makes you happier! Not only will your mood improve, but research has shown that regular exercise can also reduce symptoms of depression. One study found that people who engaged in aerobic exercise three times a week for 20 weeks had a significant reduction in depressive symptoms (and didn’t start to feel worse over time). Another study gave participants with major depressive disorder either antidepressant medication or aerobic exercise; at one year, those who exercised were twice as likely to have maintained their improvement than those who took medication. So get moving! Those chemicals help you break out of a funk.

• You love everything about it.

Running isn’t just a great way to get in shape. It can also be an escape from daily stressors and a way to spend time with loved ones. Like you, many runners find that they love everything about it—the calm focus, physical challenge, companionship, or scenic views—but that they don’t always have time to get out and run. When you know how much it brings to your life and makes you feel happy and healthy, there’s no excuse not to lace up every day! It improves your flexibility: Not only will running improve your muscle tone (and make your clothes fit better!), but it can also increase your range of motion by strengthening small muscles in hard-to-reach places (like feet). How? Just think about what happens when you run: Your body flexes and stretches as your legs pump back and forth. The more often you run, the easier it is for your body to move through different ranges of motion without pain or stiffness. It reduces stress.: If you're anything like us, exercise is one of our go-to ways to relieve tension after a long day at work. That's because exercise releases endorphins, which are natural chemicals that reduce pain and create feelings of euphoria similar to those experienced during sex or eating chocolate. But did you know that these same endorphins are released during intense exercise like running?