The other day, browsing social networks I saw a headline that shocked me: “Running reduces the brain.” And of course, for someone like me who goes running practically every day, This news immediately caused me shock and great concern
How can running reduce brain size? With all the benefits that physical exercise brings, is running bad for your health? Will running make me ‘dumber’? I needed answers, because if running means it makes me “shorter,” I will look for another sport. Maybe practice the noble art of frisbee with my dog from now on…
I had already heard about the harmful effects that running could have. In fact, It is very common for people to be addicted to this sport, which is known as “runnorexia.” Among the benefits of running we can find that: it reduces stress, improves cardiovascular capacity, reduces the risk of suffering from diseases, etc. But like any addiction, runnorexia has negative health consequences.
But returning to the fact that running reduces the brain, and to avoid misinterpretations, we must qualify the headline of this article. Running produces many positive effects. However, Running long distances can cause negative health effects
A German study affirms that running very long distances reduces the brain
Take the body to the extreme and long-distance running can cause the brain to shrink by 6.1%, as stated in a study carried out in Germany. Even more surprising is the fact that the researchers found that, after eight months, the brain returned to its normal size.
For this study, scientists at Ulm University Hospital (Germany) evaluated 44 participants in the 2009 edition of the Trans Europe Foot Race, a competition that consists of running from Italy to Norway, that is, a distance of 4,500 km in 64 days.
The research was led by Uwe Schütz, a German radiologist, and the results were presented at the Annual Congress of Radiology. This study contradicts the majority of studies carried out to date, because they affirm that running provides many psychological and neurological benefits: it improves mood or reduces the risk of suffering from degenerative diseases, among others.
There is no evidence that this occurs with jogging or a marathon
Schütz explains that: “Despite the negative effects on the brain that the catabolic stress of an ultramarathon causes, this is due to an adaptive and reversible process. “There are no long-term injuries.” Furthermore, “It seems that this decrease in gray matter is due to the monotony of looking ahead for so many days in a row. It is as if the brain relaxes.”
In other words, Everything indicates that this loss of mass affects the vision area, which the long-distance runner knows as “tunnel vision.” But be careful, there is no reason to cancel your running session this afternoon, since the same does not seem to happen with a marathon or jogging.
Runnorexia is a problem for runners
Runnorexia is a real problem that can affect regular runners. This phenomenon causes the person to overvalue running, and make it the priority in their life, even above family, friends, work, etc.
Running is everything for a “runnorexic”, and not being able to do their training for some reason means great frustration. have been reported cases of people canceling appointments or not going to work for a day to be able to carry out their session, since the discomfort that these individuals feel if they do not carry out these sessions is greater than them. This is one of the signs that they suffer from an obsession.
The symptoms of runnorexia are the same as those of addiction to any type of physical exercise (for example, weight training). These symptoms appear when the person cannot perform physical activity, and can be: anxiety, depression or irritability.
To learn more about runnorexia, we invite you to read this interesting article “Runnorexia”: the modern running addiction.
