The other day, surfing the social networks I saw a headline that struck me: “Running reduces the brain”. And of course, for someone like me who goes running almost every day, this news immediately caused me stupor and great concern .

How can running reduce the size of the brain? With all the benefits of physical exercise, is running bad for your health? Will running make me ‘dumber’? I needed answers, because if running means I get shorter, I’ll look for another sport. Maybe I’ll practice the noble art of frisbee with my dog from now on…

Extremes are also bad for running

I had already heard about the harmful effects running could have. In fact, it is very common for people to be addicted to this sport, which is known as “runnorexia” . Among the benefits of running we can find that: it reduces stress, improves cardiovascular capacity, reduces the risk of suffering from diseases, etc. But like any addiction, runnorexia has negative consequences for health.

But returning to the fact that running reduces the brain, and to avoid misinterpretation, the headline of this article needs to be qualified. Running has many positive effects. However, running long distances can have negative effects on health .

A German study claims that running very long distances reduces the brain

Taking the body to the extreme and running long distances can cause the brain to shrink by 6.1% , as a study in Germany claims. Even more surprising is the fact that researchers found that after eight months, the brain returned to its normal size.

For this study, scientists from the University Hospital of Ulm (Germany) evaluated 44 participants in the 2009 edition of the Trans Europe Foot Race, a competition that consists of running from Italy to Norway, that is, a distance of 4,500 km in 64 days.

The research was conducted by Uwe Schütz, a German radiologist, and the results were presented at the Annual Congress of Radiology. This study contradicts most studies carried out so far, because they claim that running brings many psychological and neurological benefits: it improves mood or reduces the risk of degenerative diseases, among others.

There is no evidence that this occurs with jogging or a marathon

Schütz explains that: “Despite the negative effects on the brain of catabolic stress from an ultramarathon, this is due to an adaptive and reversible process. There are no long-term injuries. In addition, “It seems that this decrease in grey matter is due to the monotony of looking ahead for so many days in a row. It’s as if the brain relaxes.

In other words, everything points to this loss of mass affecting the area of vision, what the long-distance runner knows as “tunnel vision” . But beware, there is no reason to cancel your running session this afternoon, as it does not seem to be the same for a marathon or jogging.

Runnorexia is a problem for runners

Runnorexia is a real problem that can affect regular runners. This phenomenon causes the person to overestimate running, and make it the priority in their life, even above family, friends, work, etc.

Running is everything to a “runnorexic”, and not being able to perform your training for some reason means great frustration. It has been reported that people cancel appointments or do not go to work one day in order to carry out their session , because the discomfort these individuals feel if they do not carry out these sessions is greater than they are. This is one of the signs that they suffer from an obsession.

The symptoms of runnorexia are the same as those of addiction to any type of physical exercise (for example, weight training). These symptoms appear when the person is unable to perform the physical activity, and may include anxiety, depression, or irritability.

To learn more about runnorexia, we invite you to read this interesting article “Runnorexia”: the modern addiction to running”