Sure, running is healthy, but don’t go too fast because you could die. Well at least that is what this article by The Telegraph suggests. The eye-catching article title is “Fast running is as deadly as sitting on couch, scientists find” because if you end an article title with scientists find then it is 100% accurate.
This article begins by letting the reader know that running faster than 7 miles per hour is damaging and is actually doing more harm than good when it comes to heart and overall health benefits. They then cite the research article and mention that runners that ran the fastest were nine times more likely to die prematurely within 12 years, while those who were the tortoise in this tortoise and hare analogy, were not.
So what is the truth? Well, The Telegraph had it half right. The Copenhagen City Heart Study was a prospective study that was composed of random sample of 19,329 white men and women between 20 to 93 years old, which was narrowed down to 1,098 joggers and 413 healthy non-joggers. With analysis of all-cause mortality and adjusting for age and sex, the researchers found that jogging quantity and frequency were all associated with low mortality. In addition to that, all joggers had lower blood pressure and BMI, lower prevalence of smoking, and lower incidence of type 2 diabetes, which is great news for runners.
However, that’s not the end of the story. When looking at low, moderate, and strenuous joggers, there was a U-shaped association between jogging and mortality and interestingly enough, the fast-paced joggers’ mortality was not statistically different from that of the sedentary non-joggers. What the popular media article failed to mention was that the researchers believe that there could be an upper limit for exercise where the health benefits are no longer effective. The researchers go on to explain that further research needs to be done to test this hypothesis before making any recommendations. Hmm… seems like The Telegraph did not get that memo.
Anyone working in the health field needs to be mindful of these types of articles because while they can contain some interesting information, they can also be greatly exaggerated, thus losing its overall message. This particular study has some great information that health practitioners can utilize. Exercise might have an upper limit, and that is worth investigating. However, for right now, I believe most of the people we will be interacting with will not be included in the strenuous exercising group. It is something we should be aware of, but I am not sure how much clinical application it will have. Overall, we can conclude that (1) 7 miles per hour is not a magical cutoff point, (2) jogging has some great benefits and (3) we should not try to scare people away getting exercise.
- Knapton, Sarah. “Fast running is as deadly as sitting on couch, scientists find.” The Telegraph. Published 2 Feb 2015.
- Schnohr, Peter, et al. “Dose of jogging and long-term mortality: the Copenhagen City Heart Study.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology 65.5 (2015): 411-419.