Many people are aware that running regularly can help their body stay fit and healthy but a new study suggests it can do more than that. Carl Lavie, from the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute of the University Of Queensland School Of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and colleagues found that people who run or jog for at least five minutes per day are likely to live longer than their non-running peers.
For the new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on August 5, Lavie and colleagues followed 55,137 individuals between 18 and 100 years old for 15 years using medical records to find out if there is an association between running and the likelihood to live longer.
During the course of the 15-year study period, about 3,400 of the participants died, 1,200 of whom from cardiovascular causes including stroke and heart disease. The researchers observed that runners who were involved in the study tend to live three years longer compared with the participants who did not run. The researchers, in particular, found that runners were associated with 30 percent reduced risks for death from any cause and 45 percent less likely to die from heart disease compared with non-runners.
Lavie and colleagues have likewise noted that slow runners reap similar benefit as well. Less avid runners who run slower than six miles per hour but run for 30 to 59 minutes per week, or the equivalent of five to 10 minutes a day, had 28 percent reduced risks for death from any cause and were 58 percent less likely to die from heart disease-related causes compared with non-runners.
"Running, even 5 to 10 min/day and at slow speeds <6 miles/h, is associated with markedly reduced risks of death from all causes and cardiovascular disease," Lavie and colleagues wrote. "This study may motivate healthy but sedentary individuals to begin and continue running for substantial and attainable mortality benefits."
The researchers said that the findings of their large observational study can have an impact on public health. For one, many people are too busy to have enough time to engage in physical activities and the results of the study could motivate them to start running even at a slow pace.
"Even running less than six miles per week, running less than an hour per week at paces less than 10 minute miles were still producing very substantial reductions in cardiovascular mortality," Lavie said.
