Can short bouts of running lengthen lives?

March 4, 2020

A systematic review and meta-analysis in the British Journal of Sports Medicine of 14 observational studies has considered whether running — and what “dose” of running — affects the risk for death from any cause, and from cardiovascular health problems or cancer. The researchers looked at pooled data from just over 230,000 participants who were followed for as little as 5.5 years or as long as 35 years. Compared with no running, those who ran habitually — even just once a week — had a 27% lower risk for death from any cause, and a 30% and 23% reduced risk of cardiovascular and cancer mortality, respectively. Read more interesting data about the study on Harvard Health Publishing.