Running in autumn: for many people, the onset of the dark season doesn’t provide much motivation to start or continue running. Too dark, too wet, too cold are the most common arguments. The alleged autumn blues are also often cited. The human mind is extremely creative in inventing excuses and lying to itself in order to avoid physical exercise and justify comfort. We humans have mastered this form of self-deception perfectly. However, there are good reasons to continue to focus on physical activity in autumn, especially running. For me, the following five reasons are particularly decisive.
Reason 1: our bodies are made for running
The first reason is the simplest: our human body is made for movement and specifically for running. In evolutionary terms, we are actually designed to cover long distances every day to procure food or to escape from predators. In the distant past, it was easy to run a half or full marathon every day. Long periods of physical inactivity were simply not possible for our ancestors if they wanted to survive.
Today’s almost exclusively sedentary lifestyle, staring at screens (smartphone, TV, tablet, PC…) is therefore absolutely poisonous for our bodies and our psyches. The catastrophic lack of exercise in our modern lifestyle leads to a wide range of physical and mental disorders and illnesses. Whether autumn, winter, spring or summer: the positive health effects of sensible and individually adapted running training are so great that it is always worth starting and sticking with it.
Reason 2: Running helps against winter fat
To say it up front: almost nobody loses weight from sport alone. As a rule, successful weight loss always consists of exercise and a change in diet. The reason is simple: to lose weight, you need a permanent calorie deficit. The body has to consume more than it takes in. Many people succumb to the illusion that they can create this deficit by directly consuming calories during training. However, our body is a marvel: it can generate quite a lot of power from very few calories. The individual training session therefore has little effect on the calorie balance.
Nevertheless, running is a good way of preventing weight gain in the cold season and reducing weight in the long term. Regular training leads to the strengthening and development of muscles and a muscular, athletic body simply consumes more energy than an untrained organism, even at rest. Sport therefore increases the body’s basal metabolic rate, which in turn helps with weight loss because it makes it easier to create a calorie deficit. Going for a run is a long-term investment against winter fat.
Despite this effect, however, most of us will still have to scrutinise our eating habits in order to lose weight. As a rule, we cannot build up that much muscle to fully compensate for our Western diet alone.
Reason 3: Running is good for the psyche
Many people complain about a lack of motivation, listlessness and depressive moods in autumn. In view of the fact that most people spend even more time indoors and move even less than usual during the longer periods of darkness, cold and wet weather, this is hardly surprising. Here, walking is a direct antidote, especially if it is done outside and not in some gym on a treadmill (although that is still better than doing nothing at all).
Physical exercise directly promotes the reduction of stress hormones and releases messenger substances in the brain for positive feelings. At the same time, physical activity promotes self-awareness and a feeling of self-efficacy. Especially in today’s world, where we are constantly bombarded with negative messages via the media, internet and social media, exercise is a key to reducing the negative physical and mental effects of this constant stress. So get away from the TV and smartphone and get out for a run.
It’s best to leave your smartphone at home and run without the distraction of music, podcasts or phone calls. Use the running time for real mental hygiene and keep it free from the senseless constant noise of our hysterical consumer society. In autumn, and even more so in winter, you are usually lucky enough to have more peace and quiet when running outside than in summer. There are simply fewer people out and about and therefore less to get in your way when running. So enjoy this time for yourself.
Reason 4: Running is always possible
The great thing about running is that you can basically do it anywhere and without much effort. Apart from sensible running shoes, there is little to invest in. For the darker months of the year, functional underwear that provides good protection against wind and moisture and is still breathable is another option. But you don’t have to invest huge sums here either, there are plenty of suitable products at a reasonable price. I myself have never spent large sums on my running clothes and still manage very well in bad weather.
With suitable clothing, there are no excuses: even in wet, cold and windy conditions, you can go running outside without any problems. In my experience, only really heavy rain, storms and black ice are problematic. I myself prefer to run in cooler temperatures and light rain, because then the paths are not full of passers-by and other runners. Remember: finding excuses not to exercise is never a problem: too hot in summer, always too cold in winter, there’s always something.
Reason 5: Running helps society
This last reason for running may seem strange to many in our ego-fixated and consumerist society, but it is very important to me. In my opinion, our society as a whole is being damaged by our lazy lifestyle. Let’s not be fooled by the images and stories of sporty people in the media and our social media bubbles: the vast majority of the population in industrialised countries do far too little exercise. Back in 2018 – even before the coronavirus pandemic – only 43% of people in Germany, for example, were getting enough exercise. This was already a very low rate of just 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week (!). Nothing compared to what our bodies are actually designed to do.
Instead of exercise, sitting is the order of the day. In 2018, we spent 7.5 hours a day sitting in Germany, rising to 8.5 hours in 2021. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 now even sit for an average of 10.5 hours a day. The figures are similarly dramatic in other industrialised nations. The effects and costs for society and social systems are devastating. Obesity, an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, back problems, etc. are becoming more and more widespread. On the mental side, lack of exercise increases the risk of mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety disorders, general listlessness and stress.
I believe that a large part of the increasingly neurotic behaviour in the German population – in addition to the negative effects of our one-sided consumerist society and (social) media consumption – is due to the consequences of a general lack of exercise. Against this backdrop, everyone who makes an effort to counteract this silent pandemic of physical inactivity is also making a positive contribution to our society as a whole. Be it because they become physically healthier and thus relieve the burden on our social systems, or because they become mentally more balanced and less neurotic and thus buck the social trend of neuroticism and ego-fixated aggression.
So do something good for yourself and for society: lace up your running shoes, get outside and enjoy the positive effects of running, even in autumn.
If you haven’t done any, little or no sport for a long time, you can find a few tips on how to get off to a good start in this article.