SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the couch-potatoes-are-not-hit-by-cars dept.
There's no question that running changes your heart.
The issue is whether these changes are good or bad. I don't mean the occasional 3 miles once or twice a week, although even this minimal amount of exercise seems to have positive health benefits.
A famous 2014 study led by Duck-chul Lee that followed 55,000 adults for more than 15 years concluded that even modest amounts of running, around 50 minutes a week total, causes a 30 percent drop in all-cause mortality risk and an average increase of three years in lifespan. The results of this study were fairly flat with respect to running time, distance, frequency, amount and speed, compared to non-runners, although persistent runners "had the most significant benefits, with 29 percent and 50 percent lower risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively, compared with never-runners." However, the authors caution that "further research is needed to determine whether there is an upper limit to the amount of vigorous physical activity, beyond which additional exercise provides no further mortality reduction."
In other words, can too much running be bad for you?
(Score: 2) by xpda on Saturday September 17 2016, @05:01AM
Of course it is possible for too much running to be bad for you. Look at the upper extreme. If you run so much that you never sleep, you'll likely die from sleep deprivation. The question should be where the upper limit is, rather than whether it exists. It may not be a simple answer, with trade-offs such as joint damage (which can limit future exercise) vs. cardiovascular health.