Sciency Stuff About Running!

#384 - This week we're having fun talking all about science in running! It's a hodge podge of different science facts about running: how we runners are smarter than non-runners (it's true, I think!), how your attitude will determine if you get sick or stay well after a race and so much more! So let's have fun with Running Science! 

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Hidden West share stories you might not hear anywhere else. Want to know why the last chance grade might be the most dangerous bit of highway in California? Why did the Japanese drop bombs on the western part of the U.S.? And where is the state of Jefferson? All these stories and more about what makes the Western U.S. so great are here. There's a new story published every week. Check out Hidden West on YouTube. Welcome to Martha Runs the World, a podcast with a new take on running, fitness, and all things health-oriented. I'm Martha Hughes, your host, and each week I present a new topic that is of interest to all runners. Hi, and welcome to episode 384 of Martha Runs the World. Thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it each and every week. I thought it would be fun for this episode to talk about some of the science type stuff, the sciencey facts about running. Now, all the information I got was from a lot of different websites and different studies mentioned. I don't have all the names of all the studies. I didn't put them down, sorry. They're just all over the place. And this episode is not meant to be taken too seriously. It's just a fun, lighthearted episode to enjoy and to pick up some cool facts that you can talk about on your next run if you want. Or not. You may or may not know some of the stuff. Maybe you know all of them. I don't know. But it's just a great way that we can think about running and think about maybe lighthearted stuff and go in a deeper direction and to think about running. Why not? So, and there's no particular order these are in. They're all mixed up. There might be a nutrition one with an injury one with something else. They're just all over the place. So I'm not that organized to put them all in different categories. It's like, sorry. No, my life is not that way. Anyway, so I'm gonna get started. Now, running can boost your brain power. Aerobic exercise like running doesn't just strengthen your body, but it also helps your brain. Now, there was a study done by the in the proceedings of National Academy of Sciences found that regular aerobic activity increases the size of your hippocampus, the part of the brain linked to memory and learning. And they saw a 2% growth in hippocampal volume effectively reversing age-related brain shrinkage. So the next time you run, know you're training your brain as well as your body. Does that mean that we runners are smarter? You make your own conclusion about that. Running boosts your immune system. Regular running has been shown to strengthen your immune defenses, helping your body fight off common illnesses like colds and minor infections. Moderate aerobic exercise can increase the circulation of antibodies and white blood cells, making them more efficient at dealing with pathogens. An overactive bladder, find yourself needing to go on only a short distance into your run? This can be due to a couple factors. Increased blood flow from the cardiovascular workout can speed up other body systems as well, including your kidney's production of urine. And also, the urge may not be what it seems. If you're dehydrated, your body may hold on to this concentrated reserve of urine, creating a sensation similar to the one you have when you need to go. That's interesting, huh? And tummy trouble. Other potential side effects of dehydration is having gastrointestinal issues. Dehydration can alter the way the stomach and digestive system work in a way that will leave your bowels irritable once you start moving a lot on a run. So you must hydrate properly to not have those problems. Now, even if you're well hydrated, you may still have tummy trouble, and it's common for runners. So the repeated bouncing of the body and internal organs and blood flow to the intestines may decrease. Typical production of hormones by the intestines may be interrupted, which all contribute to GI issues. So the best thing to do is don't eat any new to you foods before or during a run, and especially not during a race, and not everything is going to agree with you and find out what does. Knee health. Despite the notion that running can damage your knees, orthopedic sports medicine journals show that regular running strengthens the joint, maintains knee health, and prevents arthritis from getting worse. Even if you're a super slow jogger, you'll burn at least 10 calories per minute of running. That means you'll run off half a block of lint dark chocolate in less than 23 minutes. Physically active people have a 60% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease than couch potatoes. In the feet, 26 bones, 33 joints, and 112 ligaments, and a network of nerves, tendons, and blood vessels have to work together when we run. The human body can produce up to 2.5 liters of sweat per hour while running. That's the reason why we're all like drenched at the end, right? The average person will run approximately 42,000 kilometers, 26,000 miles during their lifetime. And what about those who do ultras? It's probably triple that, right? If you don't run for a while, how fast do you lose fitness? Let's say you stop running during an illness or an injury or um something that doesn't allow you to do much running. What happens? Cardiovascular capacity declines with increased resting heart rate. Muscle strength and mass diminish. Minimal changes happen in the first three to five days. After one to two weeks, early cardiovascular decline begins. It's normally about six percent reduction at this time. By two to four weeks, losses are up to 12%. At four to nine weeks, loss accelerates even more. After two months, VO2 max can drop up to 25%. Cold muscles are more vulnerable to strains and injuries, so take a few minutes to warm up first. Dynamic stretches work great. Low intensity running allows muscles, joints, tendons, and bones to adapt to running without getting overloaded, leading to injuries. Caffeine can help your running. A recent study showed that runners with caffeine show a 6.97% improvement in endurance and a 0.72% faster time. Other studies show it boosts running 2-4%. Now, however, you having caffeine is a personal thing, whether your body can handle it and how much of it. Why are your calves so tight after running? Now here's some common reasons. Training mistakes or sudden changes, switching running shoes, tight lower back or glutes, irritated or trapped nerves, muscle strains, shin splints. It's scientifically proven that running adds years to your life. It helps us sleep better, it can help with depression and weight loss, not to mention cardiovascular health. Our liver and muscles refuel at different speeds. Our liver refuels in just six hours, our muscles take around twenty-four hours. What are DOMS? Delayed onset muscle soreness. It's muscle pain that shows up twelve to fourteen hours after intense or unfamiliar exercise and it can stick around for two to three days or more. It's caused by minor damage to muscle fibers and the inflammation that follows. It doesn't feel great, but it's part of the natural muscle rebuilding process. It hurts the most when lengthening those muscles, like going downstairs or doing squats, that kind of thing. A new study found that running a marathon causes a temporary drop in substance called myelin, which plays a critical role in brain health. Myelin is a fatty substance that wraps around nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. It's vital for transmitting signals between nerve cells. Myelin is essential for coordination, learning, memory, and sensory processing. It also helps convert glucose into energy for the brain, which during a marathon, the energy demand goes way up. According to this study, the dip in myelin may help our brain optimize its function. It could strengthen the brain's ability to handle energy demands and stress even more efficiently. There's not one rule regarding hydration during a run. Your needs depend on your body weight, running pace, weather, sweat, and fuel strategy. This may seem like a duh moment, but I read so much stuff that says you should do this, you should do that. I feel it's important to point out the reality of hydration in a scientific way. The runner's high. The euphoria is largely driven by endocannabinoids. I hope I said that right. I'm so sorry, this is such a long word, not just endorphins. This triggers a natural antidepressive effect that blunts physical and emotional stress. The human advantage. Humans are biologically engineered for long distance endurance. Our anatomy allows us to store and release elastic energy in our tendons with every stride. Running prepares you to cope with daily stress and challenges without getting panicked. You will stop overthinking and feel more relaxed. This is because running can immediately reduce the activity in frontal cortex. This makes running the simplest and healthiest way to break free from daily grind. Well, maybe it helps. I don't know if you completely break free from it, but it can help. Aerobic exercise like running will activate the brain area that is responsible that is responsible for executive functions like attention control, working memory, or cognitive flexibility. It will help you work towards achieving your goals without losing focus. Research has shown that running in a natural environment work as a shield against mental health conditions. Going to a gym or working out at home cannot provide these benefits, so run outside at least part of the time. Don't always do every run on the treadmill. If you have diabetes, regular running will help reduce the risk of diabetes related to heart attack to 20% and eye or kidney damage to 40%. Running results in a kind of connectivity that allows your brain to have higher level thoughts. Thinking out of the box isn't that hard because you can analyze and solve problems. Now there are more women runners than men. A major study of race data from around the world, the State of Running 2019, found that the number of female entrants exceeded males for the first time last year. So this is an older study, but I'm sure it's true again today. While we can't be sure of the cause, there's suggestions that social media encourages women to enter races. Women are also more likely to run with friends than their male counterparts, helping to boost the numbers further. Half marathons are the most popular race distance. In most nations, the half marathon is the race of choice. There is some logic to this. It's a challenging distance with good room for improvement, yet the training schedule and hours spent running are a lot more manageable for a 13-mile race than marathon training or ultra training. Any marathon winer will tell you most of the weekend is lost in training or recovery time. The number of people running has risen 57% in the last decade. Running is a major growth area. There are many contributing factors, of course, but a general trend towards exercise in the open air and the resulting well-being of benefits is certainly a factor. Running has become more accessible and helped by social media, websites, and training apps, such as Couch to 5K. As society becomes more aware of the health benefits of exercise, running is increasingly an appealing option. In the case of the long run, your capillaries will increase in size and you will literally grow more blood vessels to take on the load of the work you're doing. One prominent and important result of the long run is complete depletion. You teach your body during a long sustained effort how to burn fat after your glycogen stores are out. The reason you would want to do this is to be as efficient as possible on race day. You want to be able to use every energy at your disposal. Have you ever bonked after 20 miles? Teaching your body how to burn fat as fuel may help you avoid this. Or in an Ultra you're gonna bonk a few times, so it will teach you how to keep going. 70% of injuries occur at or below the knee. That nagging knee pain you can't seem to get rid of? There's a good chance six out of ten of your running friends have also experienced something similar. In other words, knee issues or things like ITB syndrome and knee tracking issues are the top culprits of runners, particularly those with less than two years of experience. IT band syndrome is not knee, but anyway, okay, we'll continue on. The top five injuries are patellofemoral pain syndrome, Achilles tendinopathy, ITB syndrome, shin splints, and hamstring tendinopathy. These injuries are all common as they involve structures and tissues that require plenty of time to adapt and change to keep up with demands of running. As a general guide, a brand new runner should give themselves 8 to 12 weeks to reach 5K nonstop. Or if you're doing intervals to do a 5K with intervals. But most people tend to do too much too soon, which also is an invitation to injury. Slow down and remember that the runner's greatest strength is patience. You also would like it's when you're starting out, you also want to avoid running back-to-back days. So you want to maybe do it every other day. 28% of running injuries or re-injuries making history of injury a very high predictor of injuries. Unfortunately, once something is injured, the body is left two options keep using the injured part and re-injure it or compensate by using something else. However, neither of these are great, and the best solution is to fully understand what the injury is and treat it so it doesn't happen again. More negative mental health scores are correlated with an increased risk of injury. Have you ever had a real stressful few weeks followed by an injury? It's not in your head. Research has shown that the mix of mind and body working together is true. Folks who experience more depression or anxiety are at a greater risk of injury and also take longer to heal. Considering that many of us run for mental health reasons, this is a good fact to keep in mind. So if you aren't having a good day, cut yourself some slack and consider an easier fun run as opposed to hitting steep hills. Just keep that positivity in the back of your mind and you'll do well. I know it's not easy. There are some days that are just really, really hard, but as they say, give yourself a break. We all deserve a break, and we all deserve to give ourselves a break. And I think those were kind of cool. I like doing that. It's fun having a nice episode that has some levity to it and some enjoyment. And those facts, they are science-y, but they're fun too. I mean, science can be fun. I love science, so it's kind of up my alley. Now I wanted to spend a couple minutes letting you know that I do have, if if you don't know, I do have a YouTube channel, and it's mostly where I put things now. I of course you can listen to this podcast at any podcast player. It's on Apple Podcasts, it's on Spotify. It's if there are any smaller podcast players out there, they're all disappearing now, which is kind of sad to see that go. But podcasts are changing anyway, so the whole medium is changing now. So um, but I do put each episode up on YouTube. I also make smaller videos as well. So if you are interested in I'm what I should say is shorter videos, not smaller, shorter videos. Um, so if you're interested in watching any of the shorter videos, they are up at the at my YouTube channel, and I will have the address in every episode so you can check out the YouTube address. I'll put that as my main address for this uh for the podcast, because really everything is there for you, and when you play each episode, the address for YouTube can be there, and you can check out the other videos if you want. I am going to start kind of longer videos and start um exploring other parts of running, maybe some history of running and do some profiles of runners that are shorter episodes, not as long as the podcast, do separate things apart from the podcast, is what I'm trying to say. I know, sorry, I'm rambling here. Uh, it's hard. It is early morning, but um I think that would be kind of interesting and and doing things like that to to give you more content and more enjoyment too, because I like videos, and I'm sure that you would don't mind watching videos when you're not running and when you're just relaxing and getting over your run and having a frothy beverage or a latte or whatever. I like having lattes after my runs if I can, if I have the time to do that. I I like to do that. Check out my last video from last week. I went to the Salesforce Garden, which is right downtown. It's it's a really cool spot. If you've ever been to New York and gone to the Highline, it's kind of like that. It's up above the ground, it's like three stories up above, it's up above the whole uh bus terminal there. But it's such a neat spot. It's like this really it's a beautiful garden, and you can walk around. I think it's maybe it's less than a half mile, but uh, you can walk around the whole place and just sit and just enjoy the peace and quiet. And you're in the middle of this busy, busy downtown area, but you don't feel it. And you can get a coffee if you want it. It's kind of expensive, but you can if you want to get it. It's good coffee, and then just sit and chill. And I made a short video of that. If you want to check that out, it's kind of cool. And then there's other stuff there, but I will be making more content for you so you can uh enjoy that. And I hope you do, because it's kind of fun. Alright, so that is it. I'm rambled enough, and you're going, Oh god, Martha, isn't she gonna shut up? All right, I need more coffee, and I'm sure you do too, and I need to eventually get my run-in, so I will do that. So I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful week, and I hope everything is great for you, and uh continue on. Alright, so until next week, let's tie up your places and go for run.