A recent study done by the Journal of the American College of Cardiology shows that even a few minutes of running a day can help reduce your risk of heart disease, regardless of how fast you go.
The study looked at more than 55,000 adults ages 18 to 100 and watched them for 15 years. The results showed that the runners lived about 3 years longer than the non-runners. Even when the data was broken into categories like BMI, smoking, age and sex, the results were the same across the board. Running helped.
Possibly the most interesting piece of the puzzle was the fact that the amount of running, or even speed of running, did not matter. Some ran everyday and others only a few times a week. In the end, “runners who ran less than an hour per week have the ‘same mortality benefits compared to runners who ran more than three hours per week.’”
The one thing that did matter is consistency. Those who stuck to it for 6 years had the most benefits, 29% reduced death risk and 50% reduced risk of death from stroke or heart disease.
As if we didn’t already have motivation to get out and get some exercise, add living longer to the list. So, take it to the streets and run. Even if only for a few minutes a day.
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