Jogging in itself is a healthy habit. It has tons of benefits. Through jogging, you can achieve physical fitness as well as mental peace. Not to mention, doing so in a beautiful location will also feel quite soothing to your eyes.
Having said all that, you cannot reap the real benefits of jogging if you fail to do it right. It does not necessarily mean that you have to jog at a definite place or move your muscles at a certain angle. It just means that before, during, or after you jog, you have to ensure a few things. These things need to become part of your daily jogging routine through which you can fully gain all those benefits.
For this article, we will look at some healthy habits that you should work on to help make your jogging experience more pleasant and beneficial.
Go Early in the Morning
Compared to other times of the day, running early in the morning provides more benefits.
A 2019 article on Healthline provides some interesting insights regarding running in the morning by citing numerous research articles. According to these research inclusions in the article, people who start working out at around 7 am get to enjoy better deep sleep at night. This case is especially seen among adolescents.
Research also suggests that early morning exercises, including jogging, can help improve your overall performance. That means, maintaining this consistency will lead to you getting better at jogging, and perhaps develop more stamina.
Besides, early morning running has other benefits as well. For starters, it is much safer to go running during the day instead of doing so in the dark. On top of that, the weather in the morning is a lot cooler than what you can get during other times of the day. The air also feels a lot fresher because of that. Finally, getting a quick run early in the morning will warm your body up for the rest of the day, and provide you with the energy you need to get through it.
Check the Weather and the Air
Before going out for a jog, be sure to check the weather forecast. Checking these forecasts will alert you of harsh weather conditions. So you can know that there is a chance of heavy rainfall even if it were sunny before you left your house.
While checking the weather, do a bit of research on your area’s air quality as well. Look for the Air Quality Index (AQI) of your locality or the place you are visiting for your run. Anything above 150 on the AQI radar means that you should avoid that area as the air over there is not good for your health.
To keep the weather in check, you should have an app on your phone. Tomorrow’s weather app can help you keep track of the weather, as well as the AQI of your area. That way, not only will you be aware of rough weather conditions like heavy rainfall or thunderstorms, but can also check the quality of air. You should consider skipping outdoor running or exercising in general if the weather is harsh, or the AQI index returns an orange or red alert.
The Location is Important
Ideally, you would go to a park or a lake to have your morning run. However, given the opportunity, you should look for more open and natural spaces to have your run. Ideally, a run by the beach or the ocean would be perfect. Running through a trail that overlooks a beautiful mountain range is also a beautiful experience you would want to have.
Having a good view will cheer you up. It will uplift your mood and give you mental satisfaction. Our minds work out ways to appreciate beautiful sceneries. So when you put such picturesque scenes before your eyes, you are allowing your mind to help you calm down. This in turn helps you feel cheerful, relaxed, and somewhat pumped up to continue running.
Besides, the desire to enjoy beautiful morning sceneries is what allows many people to wake up early in the morning and go on a run.
That is all for this article. These habits will not take a lot of effort to ensure. It might feel a bit odd at first – doing all these things – but you will eventually get used to it. And then, once you do it regularly, you will feel more relaxed while jogging and will start enjoying it more than before.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
