Jogging can help you live longer: Scientists

The new study, which is part of the ongoing Copenhagen City Heart study in Denmark, found that that between one and two-and-half hours of jogging per week at a "slow or average" pace delivers optimum benefits for longevity.

"The results of our research allow us to definitively answer the question of whether jogging is good for your health," said Peter Schnohr, who is chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study.

"We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don't actually need to do that much to reap the benefits," Schnohr was quoted as saying by LiveScience.

The Copenhagen City Heart study, which started 1976, is a prospective cardiovascular population study of around 20,000 men and women aged between 20 to 93 years. It set out to increase knowledge about prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke.

For the jogging sub study, the researchers compared the mortality of 1,116 male joggers and 762 female joggers with the non joggers in the main study population.

All participants were asked to answer questions about the amount of time they spent jogging each week, and to rate their own perceptions of pace (defined as slow, average, and fast).

"With participants having such a wide age span we felt that a subjective scale of intensity was the most appropriate approach," explained Schnohr, who is based at Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen.

The first data was collected between 1976 to 1978, the second from 1981 to 1983, the third from 1991 to 1994, and the fourth from 2001 to 2003.

Results showed that in the follow-up period involving a maximum of 35 years, 10,158 deaths were registered among the non-joggers and 122 deaths among the joggers.

Analysis showed that risk of death was reduced by 44 per cent for male joggers (age-adjusted hazard ratio 0.56) and 44 per cent for female joggers (age-adjusted hazard ratio 0.56). Further more the data showed jogging produced an age adjusted survival benefit of 6.2 years in men and 5.6 years in women. (More)