My smile lights up the room as I step on the scale and watch the scale number dwindle. My menu for the day consists of colorful food, not my past plate of browns and yellows. A feeling of serenity washes over me. I cannot help but be impressed with myself and how far I have come in the past year. My whole disposition about life has brightened and to think it is because of running. I have made an effort to change my lifestyle, particularly through running. As I find myself progressing in my running skills, I find my body, mind, and spirit also improving. Due to these lifestyle revisions, my curiosity peaked about the effects and benefits of distance running. The result of my research has informed me of many health benefits such as a decrease in diseases, increase in oxygen …show more content…
Coaches and teachers taught that lack of physical exercise can lead to disabilities, disease, and/or premature death. Students are taught to try and exercise thirty minutes to an hour every day. “Briefly, this program provided a progressive, 10 to 12 minute program of diverse weight bearing exercises during regularly scheduled PE clases (2 times per week) and on 1 other day during the week (MacKelvie).” These rules of thumb can help a person stay at a reasonable/healthy weight; however, instructors never went into depth about risks and possibilities. Later in my schooling, science class taught about dopamine and its effectiveness to mental health. As I gained distance in running, I began to understand how the increase in dopamine affected my body in a positive way. My trainer gave me basic knowledge before I started running competitively, about nutrition and how sodium, vitamins, and carbs were crucial to my diet. As I began to add more of those things into my diet, I noticed a huge difference in my energy levels and my mind less crowded with worries and