Waking up with a Run: Why Morning Exercise Works

Running is one of the most popular forms of morning exercise, and can help you to start your day in a good mood. If you are not usually a morning person, running early in the day will help you to maintain discipline. You will have to go to sleep early the night before, so you have enough energy to run in the morning.

Benefits of a Morning Run

When you arrive at work after a morning run, you will already be wide awake. Being alert in the morning will allow you to better focus on the tasks at hand, which will increase your productivity. You also do not have to rush home after work to run, since your workout is already finished for the day.

Running in the morning can also help you to lose weight faster. A run will jump start your metabolism early in the morning, so your body burns calories at a faster rate throughout the day. Because you go to bed earlier to have enough rest for the morning run, you probably will not snack as late in the day. The reduction in calories will help you to reach your weight-loss goals faster.

Tips for a Morning Run

Leave yourself plenty of time to run in the morning, because you do not want to be late for work. For example, if you want to run for 20 minutes in the morning, allow yourself 30 minutes so you can cool down before taking a shower. Make sure that you wear a watch when you run in the morning so you know exactly what time it is. If you notice that you are running behind schedule it is fine to shorten your workout, but try to run a little faster to make up for it.

Before you run, lay out the clothes that you are going to wear to work. If you run on an empty stomach, get your breakfast partially ready in case you are a bit behind schedule. Take care of any household duties the night before or right after you wake up, so when you run you do not have to worry about anything except getting a good workout.

If you run at a school track, you can never be certain how long your drive time will take due to possible traffic or car problems. You may want to allow at least 30 minutes of extra time when you are not running in your neighborhood. If you happen to wake up late, just run in your neighborhood instead of driving to the track.

Once you increase your fitness level, you may want to run in the morning and then train with weights in the early evening. This is known as a two-a-day workout, and will boost your weight loss. You do not have to do this type of routine every day, but if you can find the time to do at least one of these double workouts each week, you will be well on your way to reaching your weight-loss goals.

5 ADVANTAGES TO MORNING RUNNING

NO SCHEDULING CONFLICTS

Although afternoon or evening runs allow you time to wake up and get mentally stimulated on your own, it also involves scheduling your day, meals, and shower times around that run. This also means you’re more likely to end up ditching your run for something – anything – that sounds more enticing. Even if you’re the ultra-dedicated runner who won’t skip a workout for just anything, unforeseen scheduling changes and conflicts happen all the time and may make the unfortunate decision for you. Waking up and running gets the workout over possibly before your mind is even fully aware that it’s awake, let alone exercising. Kind of a win-win, actually.

MORNING HANGOVER CURE

We’re not necessarily talking actual hangovers but those mornings where it’s equally as hard to drag your butt out of bed than if you had enjoyed a few too many the night before. Those nearly painful mornings can only benefit from a run. Although it will likely be the last thing you want to do, if you can muster up the willpower to get dressed and get your feet out the door, you’ll thank yourself the rest of the day. The fresh crisp air, movement, and extra blood flow will quickly warm up your body and senses, leaving you ready to tackle the day.

THE VIEW

No matter the climate, everything takes on breathtaking beauty in the warm hues surrounding a sunrise; the trees glisten with due, the sand glows pinkish-orange, and the snow actually sparkles. It’s like running through a painting or a Disney movie. Taking those miles to reconnect with your natural surroundings has a reinvigorating effect, making the work commute and desk life all the more bearable.

BETTER AIR
Seriously! The air is not only cooler and more comfortable for running in the morning, but it also holds less pollution because the morning commuters haven’t muddled it up with their car exhaust yet. Anyone who has had to run through a cloud of car exhaust knows that avoiding that choking hazard is worth the effort of waking up a bit earlier.

EAT MORE, FEEL BETTER

Exercising soon after waking up gives your metabolism the swift kick in the butt it sometimes needs. Odds are, you will not only remember to eat breakfast before heading off to work, but it will taste remarkably better than if you had simply crammed a burned bagel in your pie hole between sips of lukewarm coffee while sitting in traffic on your way to work.

In all honesty, the only good argument against morning running is that it involves voluntarily leaving the comfort of your warm cozy bed and an extra hour of sleep. Although that is certainly a convincing argument, the multiple benefits of following through and getting in an early morning run still win out. Few people can come back from a few miles in the morning and truthfully admit that they don’t feel better for it.