Are you looking for the most efficient way to get or stay fit and healthy? For example, maybe your goal is to lose weight. Yoga and running are two completely different types of exercise people engage in. So now which one is better?
Here are the five major areas of comparison:
1) Improved Strength, Balance, and Flexibility
2) Mental Benefits
3) Cardiovascular Benefits
4) Emotional Benefits
5) Weight Loss
Let’s have a look at each of these and see which one can suit you the most.
Improved Strength, Balance, and Flexibility
Running is a weight-bearing exercise and increases bone mass, though it does not improve upper body strength.
Yoga increases overall strength but is not a weight-bearing exercise.
Running does not improve balance or coordination. It’s one foot in front of the other. Running decreases flexibility. That is why you can start yoga to increase your flexibility. Its scan save your knees and my hamstrings and has allowed you to run longer.
Runners who run slower will not have the same proneness to injury. It’s essential that if you run, that you maintain a stretching program, especially if you plan to run into your seventies and beyond—which is what I intend to do.
One significant advantage to yoga is that it increases balance, which we lose as we age.
Mental Benefits
Scientists report that running has a profound impact on the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. It also stimulates new nerve cells and blood vessels within the brain, an organ that tends to shrink as a person ages.
Yoga is meditation and improves focus and the body-mind connection. For example, a recent study showed that 20 minutes of yoga enabled the test subjects to better complete mental tasks that involve the speed and accuracy of their working memory and other vital measures of cognitive performance.
However, the research did not find the same scientific benefits derived from running or aerobic exercise.
Cardiovascular Benefits
Running is an excellent way of conditioning the cardiovascular system. The typical runner tends to have a slow resting pulse rate and high maximal oxygen consumption. This reduces the risk of heart disease. In addition, my stamina is high because of running.
Researchers have found that doing yoga lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, heart rate, and other cardiovascular risk factors compared to aerobic exercise, though more research needs to be done.
Emotional Benefits
It is a well-documented fact that running releases feel-good hormones, such as endorphins and serotonin and lifts your mood. In addition, it’s a well-known stress reducer.
Yoga is mediation and teaches one to clear the mind and to slow the breath. This is a great way to reduce stress. One study found that a consistent yoga practice improved depression and led to a significant increase in serotonin levels and a decrease in the ranks of monoamine oxidase (an enzyme that breaks down neurotransmitters) and cortisol.
Weight Loss
As an aerobic exercise, running is a great calorie burner burning around 100 calories a mile (depending on your current weight and running speed).
If you use a combination of diet and exercise, you can lose weight.
Yoga does not burn the same calories as running.
Research shows men burn an average of 460 calories, while women work off about 330 during a 90 minute Bikram Yoga class. You can do the math. Running is a significantly higher calorie burner.
BOTTOM LINE
In conclusion, which exercise is healthier?
Neither. Our recommendation to anyone who plans to work out three times a week is to do an aerobic exercise at least one of those days. It doesn’t matter if it’s walking or swimming or bicycling. The benefits are too great not to do so.
Focusing on just one type of exercise is not the best use of your exercise time. Cross-training is essential to maintain an overall healthy lifestyle.
Like this article? Be sure to check out another article on CBD and Yoga
