SOME RESOURCES THAT CAN JUMPSTART YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS:

• Overwhelmed with the holidays? Check out how to stay motivated through the holiday joy.
• Need ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle through those festive parties and the stressful holidays? This site has all the tips and tricks to stay in check through the holidays.
• It’s baking season! Here’s a link to over 100 healthy holiday recipes.
• Stressed about staying on track with the holidays around the corner? Here are 10 ways to keep up with your macros during the holidays.
• Don’t want the post-holiday slump? Here are 7 tips to avoid the holiday health hangover.

(“Running Girl” by aarmono is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Never been a fan of running? These breathtaking benefits of running are about to change your mind.

1. Running crushes your risk of heart disease.
   1. Running can cut your risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 45 percent, according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. How you ask? Cardiovascular health. Running helps improve blood sugar sensitivity,  HDL (good) cholesterol, and blood pressure, explaining  Janet Hamilton, CSCS, an exercise physiologist at Running Strong in Atlanta.
2. Runner’s high is so real.
   1. One of the biggest benefits of running is its mood-boosting effects. When you run, your brain pumps out two powerful feel-good chemicals, endorphins, and endocannabinoids. Sounds a lot like what cannabis does, huh?  That’s because chemically, the endocannabinoids your body produces during a run aren’t all that different from marijuana’s mood-altering chemical, THC. The most studied mid-run endocannabinoid, called anandamide, was actually discovered when scientists were trying to figure out how pot gets people going.
3. Running strengthens your bones.
   1. Lots of people consider bones as strong and unchanging. But, after age 30, there is significant potential for decreases in bone density. Bones are living things and get stronger when a force—like running—stimulates growth. High-impact exercise (like running!) aids bone growth and promotes healthy bone mineral density. It’s a must if you want to avoid fractures and stay active your whole life long.
4. Running torches serious calories.
   1. Running requires a lot of energy (aka calories). In fact, the average 150-pound person will burn about 12.2 calories per minute running a 10-minute mile, that’s one of the body benefits of running on flat terrain. Running where wind and hills increase your effort, you can expect to burn even more.
5. Running is like meditation.
   1. If yoga isn’t your thing, running can work wonders for stress relief. Running reduces stress because you need to be very present while doing it, like a form of meditation. Where you really focus on your breath, sometimes even saying a mantra on the inhales and exhales. Running actually mitigates the effects of long-term chronic stress on the brain, according to a recent study published in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 
6. There’s always room for a run.
   1.  On Vacation? Don’t have a gym membership? Have only 10 minutes to work out? Whatever your workout constraints, you can still run. That’s an extra advantage for busy people who can’t seem to make other workouts or classes fit their lifestyle, whether it’s on the treadmill or around your neighborhood.
7. Running can improve your memory.
   1. A 2014 study at the University of British Columbia revealed that regular aerobic exercise—the kind that gets your heart rate up and makes you sweat, SoulCycle, or running—can boost the size of your hippocampus. The hippocampus is the area of the brain involved in verbal memory and learning.
8. Running can help you ditch the melatonin. 
   1. Researchers at John Hopkins Medical Center found that cardiovascular exercise can help you fall asleep faster and improve sleep quality—as long as you give yourself a few hours afterward to wind down for bed. Running helps you fall asleep faster, which in turn allows you to sleep more and the more you sleep, the less tired you’ll be which makes it more likely for you to stick with an exercise routine!
9. Running works your core.
   1. The lower body isn’t the only part of you that feels the benefits of running. It’s a core-carver, challenging not only your six-pack rectus abdominis, but also the deeper core muscles, including your obliques, erector spinae, and transverse abdominis. Those deep muscles play important roles in stabilizing your spine, transferring power between your swinging arms and legs, and sucking in your gut.
10. Running can lengthen your lifespan.
    1. When taken together, all the health benefits of running could actually help you live longer. Runners actually have a 25 to 40 percent reduced risk of premature mortality and live about three years longer than non-runners, according to a 2017 study published in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. Studies show that runners who also regularly took up other aerobic physical activities, such as cycling, swimming, walking, basketball, and racquet sports, had the greatest mortality benefit, with a 43 percent lower risk of death. So if you’ve been dying to skip your morning run and try that indoor cycling class, use this research as a reason to give it a go.