Running: Will It Wreck Your Body?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Science, Education, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lots of us love — or love to hate — running. And we do it because it’s supposed to be healthy, right?! But then we hear tons of stories about runners getting hurt — sometimes so badly that they have to hang up their sneakers. And there are people on social media going even further, claiming it’s one of the worst things we can do for our bodies. So IS running secretly bad for us? And could too much of it actually bring you closer to a heart attack? We’ll explore the science on all of that, and we’ll also dig into runner’s high: What is going on in the brain to cause this feeling? With help from Dr. Rasmus Østergaard Nielsen, Professor Duck-Chul Lee, and Dr. Michael Siebers, we look at the science to find out if running is the key to a healthy life or if there are peer-reviewed reasons to be a hater. Find our transcript here: https://tinyurl.com/sciencevsrunning In this episode, we cover: (01:48) What’s the deal with running injuries? (10:51) How to get hurt less (15:03) The secret to a longer life (19:34) What is the runner’s high? (28:58) How to get runner’s high This episode was produced by Ekedi Fausther-Keeys with help from Blythe Terrell, Michelle Dang, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn and Wendy Zukerman. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Wendy Zukerman is our executive producer. Fact checking by Taylor White. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. Thanks to the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Anita Eberl, Dr. Johannes Fuss, Professor Robert Otto, Dr. Hirofumi Tanaka, Dr. Peter Kokkinos, Dr. Marilyn Moffat, and Director Brian Farr. A big thanks to Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman family. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:26.8	Get started at vanta.com slash calm.
0:30.2	Hi, I'm a Kadi Foster Keys filling in for Wendy and you're listening to Science
0:34.8	Verses.
0:37.3	The show that pits facts against 5Ks.
0:40.2	Today on the show, running.
0:46.7	More than 28 million people go running every week in the U.S.
0:50.6	According to one survey.
0:52.8	And the reason why we do this is presumably because it's good for us, right?
0:57.0	And not only that, but we hear running can give you this sort of amazing feeling.
1:02.2	It's time to get high.
1:04.7	Runner's high, that is.
1:05.8	I had ran two miles straight, and I experienced a runner's high for the very first time.
1:09.5	It was so freaking cool.
1:10.5	It was like full adrenaline.
1:12.2	So a lot of us are excited about the benefits of running.
1:15.7	But then we also might have this nagging voice in our ear that's kind of just like,
1:21.9	you're going to get hurt.
	...

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