It is now well established that constant and regular physical activity is indispensable for a person’s mental and physical well-being. In today’s society, however, the problem is mainly time, which is never enough. Life has turned into a constant rush, from home to work, from work to the supermarket, not to mention the endless commitments we have to deal with on a daily basis. And we often forget to take care of ourselves, giving up crucial moments for our health, such as sports, for example. But walking and running are natural activities that humans have been doing since time immemorial: in fact, our physiques are predisposed to move about 30 kilometers a day, a habit peculiar to our ancestors who had to obtain food and water.
Sedentariness today is an ailment that increasingly afflicts the younger generation and beyond: we do not walk more than a mile a day and are becoming inexorably lazier. An evil that is turning into a real social emergency: increase in obesity, growth of cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, respiratory diseases. A truly awful scenario. But to all this there is a remedy.
This is a remedy that will not only help people to make better and more fruitful use of their time, but will also enable them to engage in daily physical activity without having to give up perhaps more pleasant occupations at the end of the day. We are talking about Run Commuting, a new way of doing sports because it is done on the way from home to work or vice versa. Growing steadily is the number of those, especially in Great Britain, who have implemented this innovative strategy of practicing physical activity. It is also a way to rediscover the city where you live, erase the daily stress caused by traffic, queues at traffic lights, and the search for a parking space near your workplace. This is how you start to fight sedentariness, one of the triggers of diseases to the cardiovascular system. In Italy alone, the number of sedentary people exceeds 21 million-a figure that should give pause for thought, because it is equivalent to about a third of the population. If, therefore, the distance between one’s home and office permits, why not start walking to work? By taking a walk, one can discover many details that perhaps before, running against time, escaped the eye.
It is also a way to relax and avoid the daily stress associated with car use. The more exercised, on the other hand, can equip themselves with a bicycle and pedal to work, or by jogging. In short, the alternatives are not few. Of course, you will have to wake up a few minutes earlier, but it will benefit your body first, then your mind, which will no longer be subjected to unnecessary fatigue. The benefits of Run Commuting will also be seen on the economic side: you will save on fuel or public transportation ticket money. Not to mention the immediate benefits the environment will gain: less traffic equals less air pollution. One of the problems could be the lack of showers in company restrooms; in this case, one may travel to work by public transportation and return home by running or walking at the end of the day.
Run Commuting is a way of life, which initially caught on in Great Britain, where it is not strange early in the morning to pass hundreds of people on the street in sportswear, or riding a bicycle, backpacking to the office. Walking, then, is slowly making a comeback (an app for sportsmen and women that monitors the laps and runs of athletes has estimated that the number of Run Commuting people in the United Kingdom has grown by more than 50 percent in the past year, approaching 45 thousand runs per week). According to the study conducted by the same app, right after London, the European “capital” of Run Commuters, we find Amsterdam, which precedes Paris. New York, Sydney, San Francisco, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Barcelona and Melbourne also appear in the top 10. Italy is not included in the ranking. Perhaps this habit has not yet taken hold due to the lack of offices and businesses equipped with lockers, showers and facilities suitable for this purpose. But the road is marked and, slowly, outreach is already being initiated. In our own small way, we can start with a brisk walk to work or from the office to home, especially now with the warmer weather, longer and brighter days, and less likelihood of weather events of rain, wind, or thunderstorms. Run Commuting can be a great way to combat sedentariness-the important thing is to have the right shoes and good will. The benefits will be immediate.
Source: Crudostyle
