News
Running of any length or speed reduces risk of death
1st August 2014
Running of any length or speed reduces risk of death
A very interesting article, we came across. Keep on running:)
Whether you run 30 minutes a week or two hours a week, your risk of early death will be the same - better than if you don't run. Researchers found that running, no matter the duration or speed, will reduce mortality risk by about 30% compared with non-runners.
Runners had a 30% lower risk of death overall and a 45% lower risk of death from heart disease or stroke than non-runners, according to the report. On average, runners lived three years longer than non-runners.
Running consistently can even balance out other mortality risk factors, which include obesity, high blood pressure and smoking, said Carl Lavie, a cardiologist and co-author of the study. The researchers did additional analysis to examine the importance of running and physical fitness compared with other mortality predictors and found that it outweighed even smoking and obesity.
The study examined more than 50,000 adults between 18 and 100 over a period of 15 years. The researchers used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, where participants completed a questionnaire about their running habits. In the sample, about 24% of participants reported running as part of their leisure-time exercise.
Researchers also found that participants who persistently ran over a period of six years had the most significant health benefits, with a 29% lower risk of overall death and 50% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
Lavie advised people who want to start running to start slow with walking, then introducing jogging and running. The perfect amount of exercise would still be 30 to 40 minutes a day, Lavie said, but this study showed that people would still get reduced mortality risk with just five minutes a day.