Running Can Give You More Time Than You Invest
If you think running is a waste of time, you may need to reconsider your opinion. New research shows that one hour of running can extend your life by up to seven hours, earning more time than you spend exercising.
The review, recently published in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Disease , is a follow-up to another study by the Cooper Institute several years ago. Previous research has shown that even a small amount of jogging each day can increase life expectancy, but the findings have left many unanswered questions that this follow-up review has sought to answer. Specifically, the researchers wanted to know how much time to spend on cardio in order to get time out of it. For example, to extend your life by an hour, would you have to run for an hour? If so, then for most people it is hardly worth it.
But after analyzing the data, they found something encouraging for all runners, veterans, or newbies. Not only does consistent running seem to reduce the risk of premature death by nearly 40%, but this activity statistically brings the runner back to life more than it takes. Let’s say you run for about two hours a week (which is less than 20 minutes every day). Over the next 40 years, you’ll spend less than six months of that time in class, but the survey suggests that you may increase your life expectancy by another 3.2 years. This is a net profit of about 2.7 years, or, more simply, for every hour of running, you extend your life by another seven hours (six net).
However, the benefits of longevity are not limitless. As co-author Dr. Duck-chul Lee , professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University, explains, running won’t let you live forever. Lee says you’ll have about three extra years no matter how many extra runs you do in your life, which isn’t great news for distance runners who do run miles. The data showed that the increase in life expectancy stabilized at somewhere around four hours of running per week. But the good news is that running for a long time doesn’t seem counterproductive either. Runners who ran much longer than average each week saw no deterioration in health or life expectancy.
Walking, biking, and other cardio exercises also lengthen life, but running seems to provide the best return on your investment. Lee and his fellow researchers are not sure why this is, but it may have something to do with how it improves your overall aerobic fitness, and it is one of the best known indicators of your long-term health.
However, as with other similar studies , it is important to note that correlation does not equal causation. These data actually prove that people who run tend to live longer, but that running is not necessarily the main cause. Dr. Lee notes that runners in general also tend to lead healthier lifestyles, so other lifestyle options such as diet and sleep are likely to play an important role as well. However, these new findings are shedding more light on the many benefits of cardio and how you can benefit from them in the future. So lace up your shoes and run for your life.