Running hour prolongs life for 7 hours?

Running can be the most effective exercise for increasing longevity, according to a new review and analysis of past studies on exercise and premature death.

How much can you extend your life

A new study showed that runners tend to live three additional years, even if they run slowly or irregularly, smoke, drink, or are overweight. No other form of exercise, say scientists, has had comparable effects on life expectancy.

The results were obtained from a study conducted three years ago, in which a group of scientists examined the data of medical and fitness tests conducted by the Cooper Institute in Dallas. Their analysis showed that only a five-minute daily run was associated with an increase in life expectancy.

Questions and doubts

After the results of the study were published, scientists were bombarded with questions from their colleagues and the general public, said Duck-Chul Lee, a professor of kinesiology at the University of Iowa, who is a co-author of the study. Some people wondered if other types of exercises, such as walking, could be equally useful in reducing the risk of death.

People who are intensely running think that they are doing too much, so they asked questions about whether running after some certain number of kilometers and hours could become counterproductive and even contribute to premature death.

Some people questioned that running really can help increase life expectancy. Do they really have to spend it on the treadmill to ironically reduce the risk of death for one year? What kind of benefit does a person get?

Reducing the risk of premature death

Thus, during a new study, the results of which were published last month, Lee and his colleagues set out to solve these and related issues. They decided to conduct a second analysis of the data obtained at the Cooper Institute, as well as to review the results of a number of other large recent studies that examined the association between physical exercise and mortality.

In general, this new survey summarizes the results of previous studies. Cumulatively, the data showed that running (regardless of duration or pace) by almost 40% reduces the risk of premature death. This advantage proved to be true even when the researchers took into account additional factors, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and a history of health problems such as hypertension or obesity.

Using these figures, the scientists then determined that if every person who participated in a study that was not running started doing so, the number of deaths would be reduced by a total of 16 percent, and the number of fatal heart attacks would decrease by 25 percent. (One caveat: the participants in these studies were mostly white people of the middle class.)

Net profit for runners

Perhaps the most interesting are the calculations of researchers, according to which one hour of running statistically returns more time for people's lives than takes. According to Cooper Institute data, an average person runs two hours a week. Calculations show that a typical runner in 40 years of life will spend less than six months on the run, but at the same time can expect to increase life expectancy by 3 years and 2 months. Thus, the "net profit" is approximately 2 years and 8 months. In specific conditions, the running hour statistically lengthens life expectancy by seven hours, as the researchers report.

Restrictions

Of course, these additions are "not endless," Lee warned. Running does not make people immortal. The advantage in life expectancy is limited to about three additional years, he noted.

The good news is that long running does not become counterproductive, according to data that scientists have reviewed. The increase in life expectancy as a whole stabilized (but did not decrease) when a person ran four hours a week, according to Lee.

Advantages of running

At the same time, other types of exercises, which are also known for their benefit to life expectancy, as the researchers found, are not as effective as running. Walking, cycling and other types of exercise, even if they require the same strain as running, usually reduce the risk of premature death by only 12 percent. Why running was so unique a powerful tool against early mortality remains unclear, Li said. But the secret, most likely, lies in the fact that he fights many of the common risk factors for early death, including high blood pressure and excess fat, especially in the waist. In addition, running refers to intense aerobic exercise, and they are among the most famous indicators of human health.

Of course, the results of this new survey are associative, that is, they prove that runners live longer, but that does not mean that running directly contributes to an increase in life expectancy. Runners, as a rule, also lead a healthy lifestyle, and it can play a role in reducing the risk of death.

But, even taking this opportunity into account, it is impossible to close your eyes to the data that indicates that running can add unnecessary years to our life.