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Jogging regularly could add about six years to your life, a new Danish study suggests.
“The results of our research allow us to definitively answer the question of whether jogging is good for your health,” Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the long-term Copenhagen City Heart Study, said in a news release from the European Society of Cardiology. “We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don’t actually need to do that much to reap the benefits.”
In conducting the study, the researchers compared the mortality of joggers and non-joggers who took part in the population study of 20,000 people aged 20 to 93 that began in 1976. In making their comparison, they asked 1,116 male joggers and 762 women joggers about their jogging routine, including how fast and how long they jogged weekly.
“With participants having such a wide age span we felt that a subjective scale of intensity was the most appropriate approach,” explained Schnohr, who is based at Bispebjerg University Hospital, in Copenhagen.
In the follow-up period of up to 35 years, the study found that 10,158 non-joggers and 122 joggers died. The researchers noted this was a 44 percent drop in the risk of death for male and female joggers.
The researchers found that male joggers can extend their life by 6.2 years, and women by 5.6 years.
Jogging at a slow pace for one to two and a half hours weekly provided the most significant benefits.
“You should aim to feel a little breathless, but not very breathless,” said Schnohr. “The relationship appears much like alcohol intakes. Mortality is lower in people reporting moderate jogging, than in non-joggers or those undertaking extreme levels of exercise.”
The study’s authors noted there are several health benefits of jogging that contribute to increased life expectancy, including improvements in:
Oxygen uptake
Insulin sensitivity
Lipid profiles (raising “good” HDL cholesterol and lowering triglycerides)
Heart function
Bone density
Immune function
Psychological function
The improved psychological well-being may be due to the fact that people have more social interactions when they’re out jogging, explained Schnohr.
The researchers added that jogging also helps lower blood pressure, reduce platelet aggregation and prevent obesity.
Old Rule: Keep your BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.
New Rule: Eat healthy, exercise, and let your weight settle naturally.
Physicians use BMI (body mass index)–a ratio of your weight to your height–as a tool to diagnose obesity. But critics say BMI ignores muscle mass, and a 2011 Obesity study notes that it also ignores a person’s hip circumference. “People come in different sizes and shapes,” say nutritionist experts at the University of California, Berkeley.
The idea that everyone should fall under 25 is ludicrous. A person can have a high BMI and still be healthy. Research supports the theory: A Journal of the American Medical Association study found that fit women–even if they were overweight according to their BMI–were less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who were out of shape.
The experts advise their patients to stop obsessing over your BMI, eat a nutritious diet, and log 150 minutes of exercise per week. “A healthy lifestyle results in a healthy weight.”