(Written 11 March 2020)
It is hard not to lose the run of yourself at the moment with all of the information that is spreading around about the Coronavirus, never mind about the spreading of the disease itself. It is on everyone’s mind. It is the topic of almost all conversations be they work, social, home or with random people that you meet when going about your daily business. The latter of which is currently one of the most discussed topics: how much longer will we be able to go about such business?
As a runner of many years, I do most of my thinking while running. So needless to say I am thinking a lot about the Coronavirus during my runs. One thought in particular keeps running around in my head: running is one of the best things that I can be doing at the moment. There’s no surface touching. No enclosed space. It’s highly unlikely that I will be in close contact with someone for over 15 minutes. Especially running on my own, it’s more likely a split second. Running keeps me fit, which in turn keeps my heart and lungs in good health and strengthens my immune system. These are all facts that I have known for a long time but with the recent Coronavirus outbreak, have a whole new meaning. It is these health factors that fortunately puts me and other runners in the non-risk category of people when it comes to the severity of the Coronavirus should we contract it.
The HSE has stated that those in the “at risk” category, are more likely to suffer serious effects if they catch the Coronavirus. At risk people have been categorised as those aged 60 years and over or who have a long term medical condition such as:
• heart disease,
• lung disease,
• diabetes,
• cancer or
• high blood pressure.
Thankfully huge efforts are being made globally to protect these people. Many of whom were born with these conditions or developed them over time due to circumstances out of their control.
However there are also a huge number of people who are in the “at risk” category because of lifestyle choices that they have made, perhaps subconsciously, which over time have resulted in them being in poor health. Put another way, unhealthy lifestyle choices can lead to people having conditions such as those that put them in the Coronavirus “at risk” category.
Coronavirus aside, looking at each of these health conditions:
• Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.
• Lung disease can be caused by smoking.
• Being overweight and inactive can be contributing factors in causing Type 2 Diabetes.
• Some cancers are caused by factors such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise.
• Your risk of developing high blood pressure can be raised by being overweight or obese, not being physically active or smoking.
This information has been available from various medical sources for years. But when read in light of the current conditions, it will hopefully finally hit home with people that eating well, exercising and not smoking are essential for your health. Not everything in life is under your control but for most people, these 3 lifestyle choices are.
I made a lifestyle choice 16 years ago. I gave up smoking. Soon after I took up running, initially to keep me from starting to smoke again. Eating healthier soon followed as a natural transgression. If you are active you are more likely to crave healthy food. It gives you more energy for exercising. Running as a physical activity, seems to tick all the boxes when it comes to staying outside the “at risk” category.
• Heart. Running strengthens the heart muscle by strengthening heart’s walls, increasing it’s overall efficiency and help prevent blood clots in the arteries and blood vessels.
• Lungs. Running helps increase the functioning of the lungs and in turn can act as a control to respiratory diseases.
• Diabetes. Running can help you to lose excess weight. Being overweight increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
• Cancer. Running can help you to lose weight, a factor that has been linked with lowering the risk of some cancers.
• High Blood Pressure. Running can make your heart stronger enabling it to pump more blood with less effort so the pressure on your arteries decreases, thereby lowering your blood pressure.
In the midst of the Coronavirus and the resulting flow of information that is running faster than ever, there is one word that you don’t hear very often. Opportunity. Nobody can change the past but anyone can change the future. Maybe now is the time to take stock of how you have been living and see this as an opportunity to make the changes to your lifestyle that will remove or prevent you from falling in to the “at risk” category whether it be for the Coronavirus or future health scares that may face you down the road. Some things are in your control. Like your lifestyle. So take control of it now.
I am currently training for the Berlin Half Marathon 2020. Before a training run last week I was thinking that I could be training for something that may not even happen because of the Coronavirus. Then I thought I can’t put my life on hold for uncertainties that are in, never mind out of my control. So I ran the 12 miles and ran them well, perhaps my fastest ever on that route. Maybe it was because I knew I was running on a stretch where a young woman age 40, a mother of 4 young kids, tragically died last week when she was out running. So terribly sad. She was knocked down by a car that bizarrely found itself driving on the walk/cycle track. A stretch that I have been running on 3 times a week for 15 years. My husband had been running on that same stretch just 15 minutes earlier.
So live your life, enjoy your life, be healthy and don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Take control. Running is just one form of exercise that can get you one step closer to leading a healthier life. If you decide to embark on running, start gradually and seek professional advice where necessary. For more information on starting to run visit www.coastroadrunners.com.
11 March 2020
