How Much You Have to Run To Cut Risk of Early Death

We all know that running is good for you. Well, we all know that exercise is good for you! There is evidence supporting a whole host of training modalities – lifting weights, running, cycling – for boosting mood and reducing risk of health conditions including heart disease and stroke.

Anyway. It’s running month at Move Physiotherapy. So we are here to talk about how pounding the pavement can help you live longer. And specifically, how much you need to be running to get this effect!

Talking Turkey (Research)

This article was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The study crunched the numbers from 14 previous studies, encompassing over 232,000 participants whose health was tracked between 5.5 and 35 years.

They found that even those who logged less than 50 minutes collectively each week – lowered the participants’ risk of early by death by ANY cause by 27 percent. Findings also showed that running lead to the 30 percent lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease and a 23 percent lower risk of death from all types of cancer.

But, where it becomes interesting, is that more might not necessarily be better! These studies demonstrated that running just once per week for less than 50 minutes, or at a speed below 10-minute mile pace (American studies!) – still offered health benefits comparable to those associated with higher dosages of running.

Conclusion

So what is the take home message?

Quite simply, you don’t have to don an aerodynamic lycra clad outfit to ensure the perfect balance between fashion and peak performance in order to get your positive effect from running.

These signs are hugely encouraging for those who cannot invest a significant amount of time into exercise. For those who want to begin with running, start slow and find your enjoyable pace. This can even start as a walk-jog routine. Over time, gradually increase the pace and duration of your running.

And for those who are already logging a solid number of running minutes each week… keep going and continue to reap those health benefits.