Wall Street Journal Article: Too much running

michellekicks

Read an interesting article today on the dangers of too much running/aerobic sport:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578145462264024472.html

An excerpt:

"What the new research suggests is that the benefits of running may come to a hard stop later in life. In a study involving 52,600 people followed for three decades, the runners in the group had a 19% lower death rate than nonrunners, according to the Heart editorial. But among the running cohort, those who ran a lot—more than 20 to 25 miles a week—lost that mortality advantage."

"Meanwhile, according to the Heart editorial, another large study found no mortality benefit for those who ran faster than 8 miles per hour, while those who ran slower reaped significant mortality benefits."

"Those two studies—presented at recent medical conferences—follow the publication in recent months and years of several other articles finding cardiac abnormalities in extreme athletes, including coronary artery calcification of a degree typically found in the utterly sedentary."

"Opinion is nearly unanimous among cardiologists that endurance athletics significantly increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia that is estimated to be the cause of one third of all strokes. "Chronic extreme exercise appears to cause excessive 'wear-and-tear' on the heart," the editorial says."

************************

Now, at the moment I feel totally safe since I'm running about 14 miles a week at about 8:30 min/mi... but when actively training for endurance events, I'm running about 27-30 miles... not faster, mind you. Just interesting reading...

I don't think I'd stop running. It's my sanity.

Discuss?

arc918

Not only that, but it will make your uterus fall out!

sira1234

Not only that it destroys your joints

I run about 10 miles a week at 6mph, im on the cross trainer for about 10 miles and stepper the rest of the time. I like you love to run it makes me feel like I did something worth while at the gym but is a killer on the body.

bfcano

I think I like this article! Running slower is actually better, now I have an excuse to go slow LOL.
I've done a marathon and a handful of half marathons and I agree I could never stop running unless I was physically incapable.
However it seems very odd that they are basically equating high mileage fast running is equal to sitting on the couch.
The two couldn't be more different to your heart I would think.
Very interesting though....

sjohnny

Run slower for shorter distances? That sounds boring as hell.

runfatmanrun

I just read this. Eh, currently I would rather die from too much running than being too fat. Going to die anyway might as well be because I was doing something I enjoy. Not sure how they can pinpoint a threshold like they did, wven with the study.

AnninStPaul

so basically...all good things in moderation

Chief_Rocka

Runners' World Article: Buy Stock in Myspace

n0ob

Runners' World Article: Buy Stock in Myspace

LOL

MoreBean13

The stat that matters the most to me is in an n=1 study, I'm happier when I run. n=# of people that interact with me, they're happier when I run, too.


Lacing up as we speak.

michellekicks

(snip) Eh, currently I would rather die from too much running than being too fat. Going to die anyway might as well be because I was doing something I enjoy. (snip)

:drinker:

auroranflash

The stat that matters the most to me is in an n=1 study, I'm happier when I run. n=# of people that interact with me, they're happier when I run, too.


Lacing up as we speak.

Enjoy your run! :drinker:

Captain_Tightpants

This is crappy bro science with nothing to back it up, but my gut always tells me this:

Do what millions of years of evolution designed you to do.

That means mostly walk, occasionally climb and swim, and run when a frikkin lion is after you.

The healthiest old folks I know are the ones who walked a lot all their lives.

My old taijiquan master, who didn't get his first cold until he was 47 years old, said "your legs are your second heart, keep them moving, walk."

willwillywilson

Read an interesting article today on the dangers of too much running/aerobic sport:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578145462264024472.html

An excerpt:

"What the new research suggests is that the benefits of running may come to a hard stop later in life. In a study involving 52,600 people followed for three decades, the runners in the group had a 19% lower death rate than nonrunners, according to the Heart editorial. But among the running cohort, those who ran a lot—more than 20 to 25 miles a week—lost that mortality advantage."

"Meanwhile, according to the Heart editorial, another large study found no mortality benefit for those who ran faster than 8 miles per hour, while those who ran slower reaped significant mortality benefits."

"Those two studies—presented at recent medical conferences—follow the publication in recent months and years of several other articles finding cardiac abnormalities in extreme athletes, including coronary artery calcification of a degree typically found in the utterly sedentary."

"Opinion is nearly unanimous among cardiologists that endurance athletics significantly increases the risk of atrial fibrillation, an arrhythmia that is estimated to be the cause of one third of all strokes. "Chronic extreme exercise appears to cause excessive 'wear-and-tear' on the heart," the editorial says."

************************

Now, at the moment I feel totally safe since I'm running about 14 miles a week at about 8:30 min/mi... but when actively training for endurance events, I'm running about 27-30 miles... not faster, mind you. Just interesting reading...

I don't think I'd stop running. It's my sanity.

Discuss?

I read something similar (though broader) in a health text book once. Basically it said if you go from zero exercise to three days a week you're life expectancy shoots way up. If you step it up from three to seven though the additional bump was much smaller.

michellekicks

Walking is as exciting to me as slow-motion dancing

runner2runner

It depends on the individual. But one thing that can't be doubted is that too much of anything is not healthy. Even too much running can lead to injuries and stress fractures. It's kind of like metal fatigue. Except in our case it's bone fatigue or something like that.

nateman742

I want to live as long as possible while maintaining peak health, but come on, something's gotta give around 75 years, no matter who you are. It strikes me as interesting that a health article would promote less physical exertion in order to maybe tack a few years on the end. I'll get older by staying less active? No thanks.

LorinaLynn

Walking is as exciting to me as slow-motion dancing

Depends on who you're with. In both cases.

ixap

The Mayo Clinic review that this article is based on is very interesting. It came out last summer, and as an ultrarunner I spent a lot of time reading the review and the individual research studies that went into the review.

Basically, endurance exercise like running protects your heart in MANY ways (reducing blood pressure, improving ejection fraction, etc.), and more is better -- but after a certain point (about 20 miles per week), there are diminishing returns. (If you go from nothing to a little exercise, you get a big bump up in benefit, but if you go from a lot to even more, you get only a teeny bump in benefit.)

At the same time, very very long bouts of endurance exercise might create other problems for your heart. One potential problem is tiny areas of scar tissue that can lead to arrhythmias. So at this extreme end of the exercise spectrum, you aren't getting more of the benefits than you would in the moderate portion of the spectrum, AND you have these new potential problems.

However, a lot of these potential problems are more speculation than established fact at this point. They are plausible ideas. And there is a little empirical evidence to show that some people do get these problems. But it's early to say how many people (or which people) might develop issues.

I am sticking with my "extreme" endurance program unless/until something more compelling comes out saying it's dangerous. I can feel the many benefits of my endurance program so I won't change it yet.

JenKillough

I don't see any referenced studies listed in this article... which isn't surprising.

There are so many variables at play in a study like that, of course. Longitudinal studies look mostly at correlations.

People who run marathons aren't simply doing it for fitness. Their goals are sport specific. Some might welcome the risk.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3395188/

billsica

I didn't read this, I was to busy running.