Here’s a reason to run that you can’t argue with: runner’s live longer, healthier lives, with fewer disabilities. For years we have known that aerobic exercise is good for us, but in 2008 a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine officially confirmed that running contributes to improved health in later life.
Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine followed members of a running club along with non-running healthy control subjects for two decades until all the participants were aged 70-90. At the end of the study twice as many non-runners had died as in the running group, and the gap between the two groups in terms of disability levels had continued to widen. Runners had lower levels of heart disease, cancers and neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s.
Although at the start of the study the runners were clocking up an average four hours of running time a week, after two decades that time had significantly decreased and they still retained lower disability rates with increased survival and wellbeing from the exercise, suggesting every little helps. Whatever your age, staying active is good for your health, and this study shows you don’t need to be an ultra-athlete to benefit, just do what you can. The Stanford researchers also found that people who took up exercising later on continued to improve their health, so it is never too late to start running for your life (well, unless you’re being chased by a bear, in which case you should have started well before now).
Encouragingly, the investigators also found no increase in osteoarthritis of the knees amongst the runners compared to non-runners, giving the elbow to the misconception that running puts you on the fast track to a joint replacement. In fact, in this particular study, higher body mass index (weight divided by height) was found to be a greater risk factor for osteoarthritis than running, and since runners are more likely to be lean (smaller body mass index) than non-runners, keeping your joints healthy may actually be yet another reason to keep running.
Other Recommended Reading
- Run, Relax and Unwind
- Keep Running – Motivational Tip 4
- Fun Run – Motivational Tip 8
- A Good Read – Motivational Tip 11
- That couple that runs together – Motivational Tip 12
About the author
I am a trained medical doctor and a writer specialising in health and medicine, fitness and outdoor sports and dreaming about becoming a novelist. I have been a runner for many years and have run-explored in places around the world including Paris, Barcelona, Lausanne, Porto, California, New York and North Carolina, to name a few. I also enjoy swimming, cycling, badly attempting sailing and other watersports, and thinking about doing a triathlon (whilst sitting comfortably at home drinking copius amounts of tea).
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