Born To Run - IELTS Reading Answers & Explanations

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 15-28, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.

Born to run

People run for many different reasons: for fun, for exercise, to raise money for charities, and so on. Over the past decades, running has become an essential part of many health routines because of the publicity about its beneficial effects. It is claimed that it is good for our heart, it reduces stress and it helps to prevent diseases like diabetes. But what if running is more than just a way of keeping fit? Perhaps we need to run because it is part of what makes us human.

Evolutionary biologists point to the physical characteristics that have made our species one of the greatest runners on Earth. Scientists like Professor Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University maintain that our ancestors' need to run long distances in hot conditions led to evolutionary adaptations, such as the ability to lose heat through our sweat; skin with relatively little hair so we cool down as we run; large powerful muscles like the gluteus maximus, which controls hip and thigh movements; the Achilles tendon, which stores and releases energy for each step or jump we make; and a short vertical neck that keeps our head stable as we run, in contrast to animals whose heads bob up and down for balance.

Professor Lieberman explains that the features of the human neck that evolved to keep the head stable when we run were vital because they gave us an evolutionary advantage. This ability enabled us to scan what is in front of us while we are running and it helped us avoid falling and tripping. It meant that apart from being foragers, who look for plants, roots and berries for food, we could also become hunters. We could now get food from animals, which is richer in protein, and Lieberman contends that this enabled the evolution of the large human brain.

All of these adaptations give humans the ability to run much further than many animals. This means they can persistence hunt. Persistence or endurance hunting gives the hunter, who may be slower than their prey over short distances, the ability to track and follow an animal over very long distances until it is exhausted, then killed. It is a strategy still used by humans today. The hunter-gatherer tribes of the Kalahari Desert will track an antelope for hours over distances of more than 30 kilometres until it is too exhausted to go further.

Our ability to run long distances also means we can run half-marathons, marathons and even ultramarathons, where people run huge distances every day for days. However, many researchers suggest that running, particularly extensive running, can have adverse effects. The list of possible injuries is long and they have been well documented, especially injuries around joints in the hips and knees. Studies of runners dating back to 1973 as well as more recent studies have found a correlation between running and osteoporosis (or weakening of the bones). Research by Melonie Burrows at the University of East London found that long distance female runners have lower bone density, a sign of osteoporosis, than women who did little exercise. Studies by James O'Keefe and others at the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education found abnormalities in the structure of the hearts of athletes who did extreme running such as ultramarathons.

Despite these findings, other studies have found that running long distances actually strengthens the parts of the knee that are impacted by running. Furthermore, where damage occurs in the knee, this is reversed six months later. It also seems that our hip joints are able to withstand or tolerate the impacts from running. It has therefore been suggested that because our bodies have evolved to run, they have also evolved to self-repair damage to joints caused by the activity, and that in fact, running makes these joints stronger in the long term.

Other studies show that running improves the condition of our hearts and lungs, and reduces blood pressure, weight and the risk of many other diseases such as diabetes and cancer. A study led by Duck-chul Lee at Iowa State University followed 55,000 adults for over 15 years and concluded that running for just 50 minutes a week increases average life expectancy by three years. The study also found that people who ran consistently had up to 50% lower risk of heart disease.