Chapter 2 "Running Life" - 1 Body changes

1 Why run body will feel better Running is a medicine that can relieve pain On a gloomy November morning, I was running along a small lake in Winchester, Massachusetts, in the northern suburbs of Boston. walk on foot. As I ran past him, I yelled, "Hello!" He greeted me back, and then unexpectedly called out behind me, "Hey, what's in it for you to run?" I turned around and yelled Say, "Running makes you feel good!" What I said is completely true, but it is still difficult to say that it is a complete answer.The purpose of this chapter is to answer the old man's question, although the answer is a bit late.

For convenience, we might as well separate the benefits of running into physical and psychological benefits, although the line between the two isn't really clear. (For example, for a certain amount of time—about forty-five minutes— The exciting effect of running on the mind is closely related to the exercise effect on the body. ) In this chapter, we will conduct a brief study of some of the benefits of running for the body. The health of most Americans is dire.They smoke a lot, drink a lot, are too fat, exercise too little, and eat a lot of things they shouldn't be.Tous Basler, a pathologist in California, said after many autopsies that two out of every three people who died died prematurely for the same reason as he said. It is said that the heart of the idler is related to the lungs of the smoker and the liver of the alcoholic.Thomas Chulton, a professor of health research at the University of Illinois, once said: "The physique of ordinary young people in the United States is like that of middle-aged people. They can't even run the distance between two streets in the city. They climb one They're out of breath when they go up a flight of stairs. Their intelligence in their twenties reaches that of a forty-something."

What about those who are not very young?Chulton went on to say: "The average middle-aged man in our country is close to death. They will have a heart attack at any moment of emotion or sudden exertion." If you think this is an exaggeration If so, please pay attention to the age in the obituary column in the next few days. But is there not a contradiction in this respect?Participation in the sport has been on the rise since the end of World War II.From 1946 to 1963, the number of people participating in the movement doubled.Just look at any tennis court or golf course to see that the numbers have increased ever since.Unfortunately, the majority of those who participate in the movement are those who make up only a fraction of the population.The rest are bystanders.Certainly more than half of all Americans do not exercise enough to benefit them at all, and 50 million adults never do any exercise at all.

The experience of Neil Carver, a criminal lawyer in Philadelphia, is typical.Carver was tall and lanky, much stronger now but he was in poor health at thirty-three.He once said to me: "One night, "Running Life"-1 Body Changes I carried my two children upstairs and put them on the bed.I was so tired I could barely breathe.I said to myself, I must do something about this. Carver started running. He's been running for seven or eight years, and today, not only can he run eight-mile races, but he spends some time every summer climbing New Hampshire's rugged Presidential ridge.

"Even American children are not in good physical condition. In a school in Massachusetts, out of a class of fifty-three pupils in the fifth grade, only eight were so healthy that they could receive the President's Health Award. In Connecticut State, in a class of forty students, only two students are physically fit. Not long ago, a study by the Massachusetts General Hospital showed that, out of 1,900 students in the seventh grade, 15 percent of students have high cholesterol levels, and 8 percent have high blood pressure. (Both symptoms are associated with increased likelihood of heart attack and cerebral hemorrhage.) Despite our growing interest in exercise, we The health of the children has not improved. The University of Michigan tested 12 million teenagers between the ages of ten and sixteen for the U.S. Department of Education and found that there was no improvement in physical strength, reflexes and speed in ten years. Increased. (The only exception is that the girls' durability has been slightly increased.)

The same is true of the physicians whom we look to give advice on health.Not long ago in Southern California, fifty-eight physicians were brought in for physical examination and found that the majority were in poor physical condition.One of every five of them smokes, two of every three are overweight, one of every four has high blood pressure; one of every five has abnormal ECG during exercise; more than half of them have blood lipid* indicators too high.Their physical condition mirrored the attitude of a friend of mine, a young physician who smoked heavily.He told me, "I'm not worried about getting lung cancer. When I get lung cancer, there will be a way to treat it."

*Note: Blood lipids include substances such as cholesterol and triglycerides.These two substances have a great relationship with heart disease. Too often we doctors don't offer others a very inspiring example, probably because, as John Moe, a thoughtful physician in Indianapolis, noted: "Physicians are both ignorant and apathetic." , the two are tightly linked. Starting off in med school sucks, which makes the situation even worse. Ten years ago, when I was in school, the time spent seriously studying health care in the sense that you and I understand it was insignificant.I doubt that much has changed. "Physicians who lack exercise and are prone to coronary heart disease see themselves as authorities on health issues. They tend to show others their own way of life and think their opinions are good and correct. Because they see themselves as Because they are authority figures, they find it difficult to accept opinions that differ from their own, especially when those opinions are fundamentally different from what they believe to be the correct and sound course of action.”

Can the federal government help us get fit?This is unlikely, although there are several Running Life in Europe - 1 Physical Changes Countries have examples of this. "While it cannot be denied that the government cares about our health (and spends about $1.25 billion a year on it), it doesn't really matter much." George Weir in Newsweek The article said: "Health has become an illuminating example of the limitations of government today, and one can only pray that some political leader will have the courage to say the somber truth: The limited benefit of every incremental dollar spent on healthcare keeps diminishing, but it doesn't make sense to expect them to. "

If we can't count on our doctors and our government to keep us healthy, who can we count on? The answer is clear: ourselves.This conclusion was recently supported by Dr. John Knowles, Chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation.Knowles pointed out that many Americans believe that "slack, overeating, excessive drinking, reckless driving, promiscuous relationships and smoking" are constitutional rights and expect the government to pay for the consequences of these actions. That attitude, and the health care system it produces, inevitably leads to increased costs, he said.He predicts that the next big breakthrough in medicine will come from changing the way we live, not from anything doctors, hospitals or drugs can do for us.

One easy way to make good changes in your lifestyle is to run.Running is one of the best exercises out there, and certainly the easiest.In one factory in the Soviet Union, for example, the average number of absenteeism days per year due to illness dropped from 436 days to 42 days after workers went for a run.Furthermore, several survey reports indicate that almost everyone has benefited from the movement.In the Physical Education Research Unit at the University of Michigan, Dr. Merle Foss, Dr. Richard Lampman, and Dr. David Steingart showed that even people who weighed too much lost weight in as little as three weeks. It can also greatly improve their physical condition.

The most important indicator of physical condition is cardiovascular endurance, and running just enhances this endurance. Of course, other physical activities can also enhance such endurance, such as cycling, swimming and rowing. But only running can be done anywhere, requires virtually no equipment, costs next to nothing*, and starts running right from your front door.You don't need to have a bike, a swimming pool, a boat or a field.You also don't need to have a running track, running can be done anywhere.I've run on paths, avenues, and highways, in parks and fields, and on the main streets of New York, London, Florence, and Vienna.Whether it's at dawn, late at night, or any other time, you can run whenever it's convenient and interesting for you.I've run in snow, sleet, wind and hail, and even in the sweltering heat of a Florida summer, and have enjoyed it.As Stan Gusdan, a runner in Melrose, Massachusetts, told me: "When you know you're in good shape, there's nothing like the feeling you get out of it. I wake up in the morning Came feeling relaxed, singing, ready to work right away." *Note: Running shoes (all you need besides old clothes) cost about a penny per mile It is better for a man to remain healthy than to treat him after he is ill.Running Life in New Jersey - 1 Body Changes According to Dr. George Sheehan*, a cardiologist, running is "physiologically a perfect sport. Running uses the muscles of the thigh and calf in a rhythmic pattern at a pace you control. This are needed to safely maximize cardiorespiratory fitness."It is for this reason that Sheehan recently proposed "a new trend in medicine—to prescribe exercise rather than medicine."His opinion is not merely his personal or eccentric view on the subject.Paul Weiss, a philosopher at Naru University, wrote in the book "Exercise: A Philosophical Discussion": "Because physical activity can change a person's health from poor to better, it can be seen It is a discipline in medicine, and, more fortunately, it can also display advanced spontaneity, ingenuity, and judgment." *① He was also an excellent runner and a theorist of the sport.To learn more about Sheen, see Chapter 22. The appendix explains how our bodies lengthen when we run, and how these changes benefit us.For now let's just look at the role of running on the risk of heart disease. Dr. Robert Jones, a preventive medicine specialist at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, listed fifteen factors that are linked to the likelihood of heart disease: blood pressure, activity, weight, mood and coping styles, fasting blood sugar levels, triglycerides Lipids, plasmin, smoking, diet, ECG records, uric acid, lung function, glucose tolerance, genetics, cholesterol ②. *②Recent research suggests that cholesterol itself may not be the primary culprit.The important factor appears to be the ratio of the mixture -- high-density and low-density lipoproteins -- that transports cholesterol. In addition to genetics, these fifteen areas can all be improved with exercise.For example, although running cannot directly change smoking and eating habits, people who run regularly will probably stop smoking, eat less food, and eat more healthy foods.So the fact that running can greatly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease has impressed me for a long time, because my own genetic coronary heart disease did not develop to the extent that it might have.As will be discussed in Chapter 20, running also helps heart patients fully regain their vitality, even enabling them to run the grueling twenty-six-and-a-half-mile marathon. While not all of the physical effects of running are quite this dramatic, most of them are equally welcome.William Fortner, a physician in Kaufman, Texas, once told me that after he started running, his long-standing nervous headache disappeared.David, an ophthalmologist in La Jolla, California.Watson believes that running can reduce upper respiratory tract infections."I love running because it's very enjoyable," says Barbara Orr, an internist in Loma Linda, Calif. "It keeps my tennis game in good shape -- I can catch the ball better , and keeps my legs slender." Benefits like these appeal to all sorts of people who enjoy the sport, such as Senator William Proxmeier, author of "Love Story" By Eric Siegel.Authors Joseph Heller and Jacqueline Onassis. Running does something else astonishing.We live in an age where youth is considered desirable, "Running Life" - 1 Body Changes Old age is considered unlucky.So if staying young is what you want, running can help. Dr. Fred Cash, director of the Exercise Physiology Research Office of San Diego State University, conducted a ten-year study on forty-three middle-aged men, and studied the maximum heart rate, oxygen handling capacity, heart beat force and doctors' The so-called capillary resistance is regularly checked; all are recognized indicators of the degree of aging.From previous research, it was known what would happen to a group of sedentary middle-aged men during the same period.Cash wanted to find out what, if any, changes would have occurred to these people after they exercised.So he arranged for them to run or swim.At the end of the decade, none of the four indicators showed signs of increased aging, and instead, two indicators showed signs of reduced aging.These two measures are the body's ability to process oxygen and the amount of blood pumped by the heart during one beat. (A side benefit was that blood pressure remained below average, and in some people it was even lowered.) These scientific discoveries have been confirmed by observations based on common sense.Runners in their 60s and 70s walk with such ease and grace that it is not often seen even among people 20 or 30 years younger than them. I have often encountered such a scene: I thought it was a young man or woman running towards me, and I was very surprised to find that the person was in fact a middle-aged man. Stephen Richardson is one such person.He was about fifty-five years old, tall and thin.After training for the marathon, he could run twenty miles a day, a pace that many twenty-year-olds would envy.Richardson was almost always thought to be in his forties. (Whether warranted or not, people generally think I'm seven or eight years younger than I really am. Anyway, they say they think so, and maybe I just seem a little obsessed with flattery.) However, this compliment Words can have dire side effects.Richardson works at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.Not too long ago, an anatomist working with him looked him up and down and said, "You'd make a nice cadaver—no fat to get in the way of the scalpel." Another added benefit of running to keep your body in shape is that the pleasure of intercourse is bound to increase for both men and women.The truth is not mysterious at all.Good health involves not only the muscles, heart and lungs, but all sense organs.Runners become more aware of themselves and others, and are able to participate more fully in all areas of life, including sex. Although running has been proven to have an effect on the vitality of the body and the aging process, it has not yet been shown that running makes people live longer*, although as described in Chapter 4, it may one day be possible to prove that running It does make people live longer.After all, it has been shown that active mice live twenty-five per cent longer than inactive ones.And if running's role in extending lifespan is ever to be proven, it doesn't need to be huge to be of great benefit.For example, if you start running at the age of twenty and run for half an hour every day until the age of sixty-eight, which lasts for forty-eight years, then you will spend a whole year on running.If running adds a year and a day to your life, you get back every minute you spend running, plus twenty-four hours of extra money! *Note: Robert Glover, a former health director at the Westside YMCA in New York City, now has a strong belief in running.He said: "We can't promise to add years to your life, but we will definitely add years to your life "Running Life" - 1 Body Changes force. " Running, unlike many other physical activities, qualifies as what the American Medical Association calls a lifetime sport.There is a certain age where contact sports are too dangerous a thing to do, but long after that age they can still run. Running not only makes your legs and lungs feel better, but your whole body.After your nonstop run, you'll feel lighter and more energized.You will feel a power that is difficult to get from other sources.In addition, a few casual miles can also treat minor ailments such as headaches, stomach upsets, and drunkenness.Once a friend told me he wasn't feeling well, and I asked him if he wanted to see a doctor.He replied, "Running is my doctor." This sentence is very reasonable.Dale Nelson, who teaches health sciences at Utah State University, recently told me about one of his forty-five-year-old students, Quentin Snow.Snow was originally a pilot in the Army and had surgery to remove a third of his stomach.He weighed 221 pounds, could barely climb out of the pool, and had suffered from various medical problems.After Snow attended Nelson's health care class, he started running. Within three and a half months, he lost forty pounds and many of his ailments disappeared. Last heard he could run six miles at a stretch. There are many ailments that running can treat.A graduate of the University of Oklahoma named Mike Levin suffered from cerebral palsy.Still, he ran the marathon in Artesia, New Mexico, and finished first in the college group, giving him an all-time boost in self-confidence. His father, Jack Levine, was an orthopedic surgeon in Brooklyn.Jack Levine once told me, "Running played a pivotal role in Mike's life. The change in his view of himself allowed him to expand a social life that had been extremely limited." Peter, a researcher at Stanford University.Wood argues that running helps prevent cancer, at least indirectly, because runners almost never smoke."For reasons that are not fully understood, people who smoke tend to stop smoking after running," Wood said. Most of all, though, running is entertainment.Yet many of us have become conditioned to think that any physical activity must be performed out of a sense of duty, not for the pleasure of it.The Army's acclimatization program certainly makes us think that way, and so does most of the physical training programs in our schools.The same goes for Kenneth Courant's intimidating, no-joy aerobic exercise tables, which in many people's eyes, you run for so many minutes and distances just to get the most out of your aerobic activity. A few more points on the table.But if you lose the fun of running, then you lose the meaning of running.Imagine a day in the fall when the air is clean and brightly colored leaves are dancing in the air.From the gate I ran down the hill, through a park, and down a road that led to a sawdust path and a wide beach.When I started running, my body was stiff and my bones seemed to be falling apart, but after a few minutes; I started to sweat a little and my steps stabilized.The pheasants, hares, and young squirrels scattered at the sound of my footsteps.I ran halfway "Running Life" - 1 Changes in the body place, near a garden and an old brick wall.I ran briskly along the seashore, and after crossing the wet grass, I ran along the beach.I was home shortly thereafter, gasping softly, exhausted and delighted at the same time. (By the way, runners who have to contend with exhaust fumes, smoke and eighteen-wheelers while running must feel the same way.) The experience of this hour is far beyond what pen and ink can describe.But, I guarantee that such an experience is waiting for you, just within reach.This helps explain why running is growing in popularity.This helps explain, for example, why there are 25 million runners in the United States today (about 25,000 of whom can run the full length of a twenty-six-mile marathon), why the Road Runners Club of America At least one chapter has tripled its membership in the past five years) Why Bob Glover, more charismatic leader than any other sport, recently got as many as three thousand men and women into a running program . But as we'll see in the next chapter, there are many health benefits to running, and that's just the beginning.