“Ongoing research in the field continues to demonstrate that regular exercise at all levels is beneficial in many ways.” says Calum MacRae, MD, cardiologist, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and principal investigator of the Brigham Apple Heart and Movement Study. And the women's hospital says: “Running, jogging and walking for even 20 minutes every day has been shown to impact health and well-being at all ages.”
The ongoing Apple Heart and Movement Study will analyze the physical activity and heart health of hundreds of thousands of participants wearing Apple Watch and taking part in specific studies. Recent findings highlight the average exercise volume and type of exercise across more than 250,000 participants, with researchers finding out how common it is for people to run certain distances.
50% of people who use Apple Watch to track their runs are running at least 5 kilometers (or 3.1 miles). The flip side of this: longest The remaining 50% of runs are less than 5km. This means that roughly half of the study participants were running “short” distances, like me.
That's no problem for Dr. Timothy Miller, a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at Ohio State University who works with collegiate athletes, including track and field athletes. From heart health to stress management, lung capacity and more, Dr. Miller says running is one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health. [amount of] “Running can be beneficial if done right.” This means maintaining proper running form and gradually increasing time and distance.
“The person who runs the most miles a week doesn’t. [necessarily] It was the most successful.”—Jay Dicharry
“Our whole society is so obsessed with volume.” said Jay Dicharry, physical therapist, running coach, and author of the recent book. run rewire, says. “It’s really unfortunate because the people who run the most miles a week don’t. [necessarily] “It is the most successful.”
Benefits of a short run
In fact, running short distances has its own advantages. Here, Dicharry and Dr. Miller talk about why short runs are valuable in their own right.
You can actually go out and run.
Short runs are more accessible to more people than long runs, so people are more likely to run in the first place.
“Many people spend an hour to an hour and a half outside, including stretching and warming up and all the activities that come with that,” says Dr. Miller. “But running 20, maybe 25 minutes for a 3 or 3.5 or 3.1 is a lot less taxing than what a novice runner would do. They can more easily fit it into their schedule, and in those situations it means they can do it more often, which means they can continue to do those things and maintain that stamina.”
You will spend more time cross-training.
If you run shorter distances a few times a week, you'll also have time to mix in other fitness modalities. This includes running of varying speeds and intensities, such as short interval running. Dicharry says running at a variety of efforts, from easy paces to challenging tempo runs to sprints, trains your body to use energy more efficiently and helps you become a faster runner. As long as you stay focused on the task by actually sticking to the various speed goals.
“I think if you focus on the quality of effort, things will really start to change,” Dicharry says. “Focusing only on volume is not the solution.”
Dr. Dicharry and Dr. Miller also recommend combining strength training with short runs to prevent injury.
“It’s important to be diverse,” says Dicharry. “Running is a good sport for your heart and lungs. Although it builds really good physiological health, running is not enough to build strength, build strong bones and healthy tendons.”
It can help prevent injuries caused by overuse.
Miller says shorter runs compared to longer runs may help prevent injury.
“The longer you run, the better your cardiovascular health will be, but at the same time, long distance running can cause inflammation, tendinitis, and other problems,” says Dr. Miller. “We know for sure that if you run at a threshold of less than 3.1 miles at a time, that’s a very reasonable threshold to avoid developing overuse injuries to your bones or tendons that can cause other problems in the long term.”
You Can Give Your Brain Some TLC
So you can get mental benefits from running. Relieves stress, anxiety, and depressionOne—Does not cause much damage to the body.
“You can also achieve the same mental health benefits without feeling more tired or overworked than many longer distance runners,” says Dr. Miller.
The moral of this story? Go out at your own pace and log your mileage.
Well+Good articles reference scientific, credible, recent and robust research to support the information we share. You can trust us on your wellness journey.
- Oswald F, Campbell J, Williamson C, Richards J, Kelly P. A scoping review of the relationship between running and mental health. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 1 Nov 2020 17(21):8059. doi:10.3390/ijerph17218059. PMID: 33139666; PMCID: PMC7663387.