Running no matter how little reduces risk of early death

A new study has shown that even a little bit of running can help lower premature death risk. The researchers from various institutes in Denmark, Thailand, UK and US have analyzed 14 studies that were conducted previously and found that an increase in running participation improved the longevity and health of people substantially.

There were 22,149 participants part of the study aged between 5.5-35 years. It was seen from the meta-analysis that there was a 27% reduced risk of death from different causes in people who had run any distance compared to people who did not run at all. They also found that there was a 23% reduced risk of cancer and 30% reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases in people who ran. Željko Pedišić, the lead researcher who is a professor at the Victoria University, Melbourne said that people who are physically inactive will be motivated by their findings and people who have already started running will continue it. He further said that these findings may encourage doctors and various health promoters to promote running as their part of lifestyle medicine. The paper will be published in British Journal of Sports Medicine and the researchers have said that health professionals have cautioned people of running as vigorous exertion has been found to be associated with cardiac deaths occurring all of a sudden.

Pedišić and team counter this saying that the benefit of mortality outweighs risk of running. However they said that people should be advised on a case-by-case basis as running may not be beneficial for everyone. Though the health benefit of running is clear, higher doses of it may not be helpful in reducing premature death risk.

As per the guidelines given by the World Health Organization, people within the age group of 18-64 years should involve in moderate exercise for 150 minutes or vigorous exercise for 75 minutes every week.