In this post, we will discuss the health benefits of running in the morning. We will also cover the pros and cons of running before breakfast and after breakfast.
It’s good to exercise in the morning. You can include running in your workout as a warm-up or as a main exercise.
Professional football players, cricketers, baseball players (and any sports that require physical fitness) all run in their training sessions to improve their stamina and body fitness.
Running is simple and effective to improve your body fitness. Below we will cover all the benefits of running in detail.
Keep reading.
10 Benefits of Running in the Morning
1. A morning run helps you to be active all-day
Running in the morning is the best way to start your day.
Running for 10-20 minutes in the morning will help you to stay active during the day.
By running you are making yourself fit. Also, it can help you to increase your productivity and help you perform better at work.
2. Running helps to burn unused calories
Many people live a sedentary lifestyle. People who have a desk job and working 7-8 hours every workday… get less chance to do physical work. And they don’t burn their extra calories.
In the long run, this situation can trigger many health problems like diabetes and obesity.
Running can help you burn those extra calories sitting in your body. The earlier you start …it will be much easier for you to be healthy and not accumulating fat in your body.
30 minutes of slow running/ jogging can burn 340 – 450 calories. It depends on the person’s age, weight, height etc. You can check yours with this free online running calorie calculator.
Recommended reading: Benefits of intermittent fasting ( This method helps you to limit your calorie intake without changing what you eat.)
3. A morning run improves your mood for the day and can lower stress
When you do physical exercise, your body releases endorphins. It’s also known as happiness hormones.
When you run your body also produce endorphins. This can trigger positive feelings and reduces ‘your perception of pain.’ source WebMD
4. Running is the best and easiest activity to get into fitness
If you are someone who wants to get into fitness but feeling overwhelmed due to many options. Then you can start running. It’s very easy to start and you know it.
First, try to make a habit of running for 20-30 minutes then you can move on to some bodyweight exercises. This will improve your lifestyle and you will enjoy a healthier life.
5. It’s easy to make running in the morning a daily habit and its healthy
You can’t ignore your physical and mental health if you want to live your life to the fullest.
Running in the morning can help you to increase your stamina over time.
This can give you better self-confidence and you will be ahead of others when it comes to handling unexpected work.
Also, a morning run will make you hungry for a yummy breakfast.
6. Running in the morning helps you to avoid sleepiness during the day
Physical activities like running promote blood flow in the body. Blood flow is important for our body as it performs various functions like carrying oxygen, nutrients and removes wastes etc.
Good blood circulation also helps you to avoid sleepiness during the day. This can help you to increase your productivity during the day.
7. Morning is the best time to run because of the weather and surroundings
At the morning weather remains the finest. This time you can enjoy the golden sunlight as it’s not that hot as compared to sunlight during the day.
Running in the morning can help you to get some fresh morning air. Also, in the morning, only a few people are outside. It’s a good time to enjoy the nature and surroundings around you.
8. Running helps you to tone your body. Especially legs
You look more attractive when your body muscles are toned.
During running all the major leg, butt and thigh muscles are highly active. Running also activities some secondary or supporting muscle groups like abdominal muscles and front of the biceps.
For more details on which muscles are engaged during running watch the animated video below.
9. Running in the morning can help you to sleep better at night
Doing physical work/exercise will make it easy for you to sleep better at night.
20-30 minutes running in the morning makes you active during the day. But 10-12 hours after running your body wants some rest to recover itself. So, if you run in the morning it will take only 5-1o minutes to fall asleep at night.
10. Morning run helps you to boost your metabolism
Everyone these days looking for ways to reduce their body fat. They want to know about diets and methods to lower body fat.
But one thing many people neglect is not improving their metabolism. Metabolism is a natural process that helps the human body to burn fat. Simply higher the metabolism, the more fat your body can burn.
One main advantage of running in the morning is it boost your metabolism and it remains high for some hours. So if you complete 20 minutes running session from 7.40 am -8.00 am. Your metabolism remains high after the run and then it starts to slow down normally. You can expect it to remain higher than normal up to 11.30 am – 1 pm, it also depends on the person and their age.
To boost your metabolism you can also try drinking green tea in the morning (check the post for more details.)
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Health benefits of running in the morning empty stomach
The main benefits of running on an empty stomach in the morning are – your body becomes capable of burning more fat than running after a meal.
Its because in the morning time our body sugar level stays low. And to supply energy for the run/workout our body uses fat as an energy source. Reference from health.harvard.edu
After eating a meal, you have to wait for some time before you can run or exercise. Running before breakfast solves the issue. But you can drink coffee or tea 10 -15 minutes before you run. And, after running, you can have your regular breakfast.
Another good reason to run before breakfast is – you will be hungry for your breakfast. Also, eating a nutritional breakfast in the morning means your body will get the required energy so, you can tackle difficult tasks with ease during the day.
All the other benefits are more or less the same as running after breakfast/ running in the morning.
Things to know if you want to run after breakfast
If you want to run for long in the morning then its a good idea to complete your breakfast then go for a run after some time.
Now, after breakfast how much time you need to wait before you can run?
Well, it depends on the amount of food you are eating in your breakfast. If you are having a full-sized breakfast then you need to wait for 1.20 hour to 2 hours.
But if you are eating tea or coffee in your breakfast and some cookies or light food then you can run after 40 minutes. If you are drinking only tea/coffee or lemon water then you can run after 7-12 minutes.
Best pre-workout to have before you go for a morning run
These pre-workouts will supply enough energy in your body to have an excellent performance on the field.
- 2 Bananas
- 2-3 eggs (boiled or as omelette)
- Oatmeal
- Homemade muffin
- Peanut butter sandwich
- Smoothies
How much time you should run normally in the morning?
You can run for 12-20 minutes in the morning. To get most out of that time you need to plan your running.
Let’s say you want to run for 20 minutes. First 3 minutes you should run slow or jog. It will help your body to warm up and increase your performance. After that, you can run 8-10 minutes on medium speed. Then jog for 2 minutes, sprint for 1 minute, jog for 2 minutes, sprint for 1 minute and then jog or walk for 2-3 minutes to cool down.
Running like this will help you to push your body to the highest limits. Sprint 2-3 time and in between sprints jog to accumulate your energy.
If a person wants to exercise 10 minutes or less then what’s the optimum running time for them to stay fit and healthy?
As I mentioned above, you can challenge your body by running 20 minutes. What’s important is the method of your running. If you run at medium speed for 20 minutes or so, your body gets adapted to it after some days. But when you follow a running plan like above it helps you to get most out of your running time.
If you don’t want to exercise a lot and only want to run then you can double your running time. Ideally, 40-45 minutes is enough to keep anyone fit.
Morning running tips for busy people and with full-time jobs
A person with a full-time job may think it’s hard to adjust the time for a workout in the morning. But the thing is it doesn’t take long. Running is a good option for them because it’s easy and it can be done within 20 minutes.
Many people like to watch/read the news in the morning. That’s ok. But if you are busy then you can exercise at that time and check the news on the way to the office or in-office breaks. Key thing is to stay fit you have to exercise. There’s no short cut. Take your health seriously and you can manage 20 minutes if you want.
Suggested reading:
Some disadvantages of running in the morning
With great advantages running in the morning also have some disadvantages. Let’s take a look at them.
- You have to wake up before 7 – 7.30 am. If waking up early isn’t a thing for you then you need to work on it.
- Some people sleep’s less in the night to run in the morning. Generally, their reasons for less sleep is – working late at night, watching movies, chatting etc. If you do these then you should read this post where I talk about ways to improve your self-discipline.
- Early morning run in winter and the rainy season is challenging. You should do some indoor workout if the weather is not suitable for running.
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Enjoyed reading the post. Running helps to stay fit. I try to run in the morning before breakfast.
That’s even better. Thanks for commenting.