It’s a fact: Exercise makes you healthier. But can a lot of exercise be too much of a good thing?
As it turns out, the answer could be yes, according to a new study presented at the 2014 American College of Cardiology annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Martin Matsumura, who helped research the study, says that this study shows a direct link between excessive running and a higher mortality rate.
“Our study didn’t find any differences that could explain these longevity differences,” says Matsumura, who acts as the co-director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa. “What we still don’t understand is defining the optimal dose of running for health and longevity.”
The Evidence
To find out how certain types of running affected a person’s health, Matsumura first evaluated around 4,000 men and women involved in the Masters Running Study, a study which examined the health and training data of runners above the age of 35. Many of the runners in the survey were considered to be “above average” in terms of running consistency, making them an excellent candidate for Matsumura’s work–nearly 70 percent of them ran more than 20 miles per week.
From there, he looked at other data the runners supplied, including their use of painkillers, aspirin, and history of health problems that could raise their risk of heart problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
From what Matsumura observed, use of painkillers was the highest among those who ran the least–a perplexing statistic, considering painkillers often increase a person’s cardiovascular disease risk. But what did raise their cardiovascular disease risk was, oddly enough, running a lot.
“Even though the heart disease risk factors couldn’t explain the shorter longevity of high-mileage runners, there do seem to be potentially life-shortening ill effects from that amount of running,” says Dr. James O’Keefe, a director of preventative cardiology at the Mid-American Heart Institute in Kansas City. “There may simply be too much wear and tear on the bodies of high-mileage runners.”
In addition, Matsumura adds that this study highlights the need for researchers to find out what really is the optimal way to run–while obviously not running at all doesn’t yield any health benefits, it seems that running too much also has the same effect.
What You Should Do
So it’s true: Running too much could ruin your heart. But skipping running completely isn’t a good idea either, according to Matsumura, who says that skipping it isn’t something he recommends.
So what should you do instead? Take the advice of O’Keefe, who advocates taking a moderate approach to fitness.
“The sweet spot for jogging for health benefits is a slow to moderate pace, about two or three times per week, for a total of one to 2.5 hours,” says O’Keefe.
Readers: How often do you run?
Sources:
Too Much Running Tied to Shorter Lifespan Studies Find – WebMD.com
Too Much Running Shortens Your Life, According to Researchers – CBSNews.com
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