A few years ago, Darren Dematov, 57, noticed something interesting: Many of his close friends are 30 years younger than him. And now he knows why: They met in a running group.
“Running is the great equalizer. It's a place where people find common ground, face similar challenges, overcome similar obstacles and achieve personal milestones,” Dematov, owner of Chicago interior accents design and manufacturing company, told Fortune. “When you meet runners and run with them, age doesn't matter.”
It's a valuable lesson he's learned through his participation in the Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA), a group he's been involved with since deciding to run his first marathon in 1995. Currently serving as vice president, he firmly believes that running with others can be a particularly salient, if surprising, antidote to the loneliness epidemic that currently affects nearly one in two people in the United States.
Although running is by definition a solitary activity, it can also be done with others, resulting in multiple layers of physical and mental health benefits.
Why is it necessary?
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called loneliness an “epidemic” in May 2023.
“We are being called to create a movement to repair the social fabric of our country…each of us can start right now in our own lives by strengthening our connections and relationships,” he wrote, in his advice about the healing power of social connections and community. Members of the running group think that's a good place to start.
“I think everyone wants new friendships as they go through life, but as we get older that can be harder,” Rob Schmelkier, CEO of the nonprofit New York Road Runners (NYRR), told Fortune.
In 1997, he trained for and completed his first marathon alone, an experience he says was “flawless.” But it was completely different when he ran it again a few years later with a team and met people who trained with him every day in the park, he adds. The experience gave him a sense of accountability and social time, and he ran a better time in his next marathon. But Schimmelkier acknowledges that for him, it wasn't the running that mattered.
Rob Schmelkier, CEO of New York Road Runners, high-fives participants in Run for the Future, a free youth running group.
New York Roadrunners
“It's about the kind of people you hang out with,” he says. “You talk about your career, your life story, your family. But running is a great commonality to have with someone else. When you do it with other people, you get something totally different.”
But why run?
First, we've long known that running has many physical benefits. For example, running for just 5 to 10 minutes a day, even at a slow pace, can significantly reduce your risk of death from heart disease. It also has positive effects on brain health. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, regular cardiovascular training, like running, can improve working memory and focus, as well as elevate your mood.
A 2020 review in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health also linked running to improved mental health, particularly depression and anxiety. According to a recent article in Runner's World, running can also be a healthy way to regulate your stress response, as the stress hormone cortisol is released with regular exercise. Running also helps stimulate the release of endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, chemicals often affected in mental disorders.
On top of all this, the benefits of social connection can help reduce your risk of heart disease by 29%, stroke by 32%, and dementia by a whopping 50%, according to the CDC.
A 2023 study from AARP Services, UnitedHealthcare, and OptumLabs found that moderate to high levels of physical activity are associated with up to a 30% reduction in severe loneliness and social isolation. Similarly, a 2023 study showed that physical activity can reduce feelings of loneliness as long as it's enjoyable and not overly difficult.
If you're one of the 50 million Americans who already run for exercise, changing things up by joining a group or running with a friend can be a simple, yet powerful anti-loneliness technique.
“Running is a saving grace if it helps you breathe and feel less alone,” Shawanda Weems, 48, a middle school English teacher and track coach in the Bronx, told Fortune. “Running sets you free. Running is a non-prescription way to deal with loneliness that anyone can use.”
Shawanda Weems
Simmelkjaer says he knows people who met their spouses, close friends and mentors through NYRR, where it's common for CEOs to work with people early in their careers who have similar skill levels.
Weems would likely agree. She has seen how athletics brings students together, including 28-year-old Kiara Fernandez-Chavez, who she says has “formed long-lasting friendships with some of these same students as they have matured into adulthood.” The two ran the New York City Marathon together through NYRR in 2016, and Weems says she wouldn't have been able to do it without her friend's motivation.
“Her suggestion that we embark on this adventure was not a goal of mine at the time,” Weems says. But completing it together “was one of the highlights of my adult life,” she adds.
This is just one example that proves the power of running with others: “If you join the right group, you'll realize that running is a mechanism that brings people together,” says Schimmelkier. “And that's exactly what we all need in life.”
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