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Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Report says too much running may be bad for you

A recent report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology says that running too much may be as bad as not getting any type of exercise. Scientists studied more than 1,000 healthy runners and non-runners over a 12-year period. Those who exercised at a steady pace for less than two and a half hours a week were the least likely to die in this time while those that ran for more than four hours a week or did no exercise had the highest death rates.

The scientists concluded the ideal pace was about 5mph (8km/h) which is 12 minute mile pace!! :o))

The scientists also found that it was best to run no more 3 times a week or two and a half hours in total. And it gets better.....They also said that those that ran faster than 8:30 minute mile pace three times a week were as likely to die as those that didn't exercise at all. In other words, you're all doomed! ;o)

Researcher Jacob Louis Marott said..."You don't actually have to do that much to have a good impact on your health. And perhaps you shouldn't actually do too much. No exercise recommendations across the globe mention an upper limit for safe exercise, but perhaps there is one."

Make of that what you may.
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4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4/2/15 4:55 pm

    This is great news. I can finally look forward to a category prize when all the better, faster runners die before me. Now, I wonder if Cork BHAA would consider a M100 category!

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  2. Anonymous4/2/15 5:16 pm

    That's just made this very slow plodder feel a little bit happier about svelte, streamlined runners and joggers overtaking me!!!!

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  3. Peter Fennell5/2/15 2:02 pm

    John,

    I would be a little skeptical of the results.

    Although I haven't accessed the full paper online (as its not open source) the Central Illustration on the article cover page (http://content.onlinejacc.org/article.aspx?articleID=2108914) would leave at least two areas for concern. One is that the sample size of strenuous joggers is small and the number of deaths is only two, very small. Secondly, it is always important to remember that statistical conclusions are only as good as the underlying statistical model.

    As the authors themselves state, "Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms by which excessively strenuous exercise adversely affects longevity before the pattern of association between exercise intensity and long-term mortality can be incorporated into physical activity recommendations for the general public." In the meantime I would certainly not adjust my training habits in light of this study.

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  4. Oliver O'Shea5/2/15 11:13 pm

    It's strange that scientists use the term 'likely to die'. Surely all the subjects in the study are 'likely to die'!

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