If you’ve been paying attention during this chapter, you’ve probably already concluded what I’m about to say: One of the greatest health benefits of running is how all of the many wonderful things it does for your body and mind work together. You feel more at home in your body, you don’t get as tired doing normal activities, you feel better about yourself, you’re more regularly in a better mood—these aren’t the kinds of things that can necessarily be quantified in medical terms, but I defy anyone to tell me that they don’t go a long way toward improving your health.
Some people refer to this snowball effect of running’s benefits as putting more life in your years. When you’re a runner, you’re more able to use your body as you want to, which makes you feel more alive. Life might not be any easier, but living it sure is. Any longtime runner will tell you that his or her quality of life is significantly higher since becoming a runner. That’s what vitality is all about.
So running adds life to your years. But does running add years to your life? The answer is yes. As a Surgeon General’s report in 1996 put it, “higher levels of regular physical activity are associated with lower mortality rates for both older and younger adults.” In other words, when you compare runners and other exercisers to sedentary people, the active ones are more likely to outlive the couch potatoes.
Remember that study of Harvard grads that I mentioned when talking about heart disease? In that section, I explained that burning at least 2,000 calories a week in vigorous activity, which is the rough equivalent of running 20 miles a week, significantly lowers your risk for having heart disease. The same study found that the 20 miles per week threshold also coincides with longer lives. Participants in the study who maintained that level of activity from age 35 onward outlived the less active subjects by two and a half years.
And it’s never too late: Even those who waited until after the age of 50 to start that seemingly magic 2,000 calories a week level of exercise gained an extra one to two years. Put all of these benefits together, and you not only have extra years of life, but you also feel great during more years of that life. Can you believe that some people don’t run?
Some people refer to this snowball effect of running’s benefits as putting more life in your years. When you’re a runner, you’re more able to use your body as you want to, which makes you feel more alive. Life might not be any easier, but living it sure is. Any longtime runner will tell you that his or her quality of life is significantly higher since becoming a runner. That’s what vitality is all about.
So running adds life to your years. But does running add years to your life? The answer is yes. As a Surgeon General’s report in 1996 put it, “higher levels of regular physical activity are associated with lower mortality rates for both older and younger adults.” In other words, when you compare runners and other exercisers to sedentary people, the active ones are more likely to outlive the couch potatoes.
Remember that study of Harvard grads that I mentioned when talking about heart disease? In that section, I explained that burning at least 2,000 calories a week in vigorous activity, which is the rough equivalent of running 20 miles a week, significantly lowers your risk for having heart disease. The same study found that the 20 miles per week threshold also coincides with longer lives. Participants in the study who maintained that level of activity from age 35 onward outlived the less active subjects by two and a half years.
And it’s never too late: Even those who waited until after the age of 50 to start that seemingly magic 2,000 calories a week level of exercise gained an extra one to two years. Put all of these benefits together, and you not only have extra years of life, but you also feel great during more years of that life. Can you believe that some people don’t run?
No comments:
Post a Comment