News
Good News for Lazy People
Exercise is good for you, sure. But even 5 minutes of moderate running a day have remarkable long-lasting benefits on your longevity.
For the new study, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers from several universities and research institutions int he USA turned to a huge database maintained at the Cooper Clinic and Cooper Institute in Dallas.
For decades, researchers there have been collecting information about the health of tens of thousands of men and women. These adults, after completing extensive medical and fitness examinations, have filled out questionnaires about their exercise habits, including whether, how often and how speedily they ran.
This database shows that the runners’ risk of dying from any cause was 30 percent lower than that for the non-runners, and their risk of dying from heart disease was 45 percent lower than for non-runners, even when the researchers adjusted for being overweight or for smoking. And even overweight smokers who ran were less likely to die prematurely than people who did not run, whatever their weight or smoking habits.
Remarkably, these benefits were about the same no matter how much or little people ran. Those who hit the paths for 150 minutes or more a week, or who were particularly speedy, lived longer than those who didn’t run. But they didn’t live significantly longer those who ran the least, including people running as little as five or 10 minutes a day at a leisurely pace.
For the new study, published in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers from several universities and research institutions int he USA turned to a huge database maintained at the Cooper Clinic and Cooper Institute in Dallas.
For decades, researchers there have been collecting information about the health of tens of thousands of men and women. These adults, after completing extensive medical and fitness examinations, have filled out questionnaires about their exercise habits, including whether, how often and how speedily they ran.
This database shows that the runners’ risk of dying from any cause was 30 percent lower than that for the non-runners, and their risk of dying from heart disease was 45 percent lower than for non-runners, even when the researchers adjusted for being overweight or for smoking. And even overweight smokers who ran were less likely to die prematurely than people who did not run, whatever their weight or smoking habits.
Remarkably, these benefits were about the same no matter how much or little people ran. Those who hit the paths for 150 minutes or more a week, or who were particularly speedy, lived longer than those who didn’t run. But they didn’t live significantly longer those who ran the least, including people running as little as five or 10 minutes a day at a leisurely pace.