!44: Runners Live Longer According to 20-Year Medical Study

!±8± Runners Live Longer According to 20-Year Medical Study

Slowly but surely I'm approaching the age of sixty as I write these lines. When I look back, starting to run at the age of 49 stands out as one of the best things I ever did in my life.

For all these years I ran just because it felt so good. Certainly, it still hurts a little each time I finish one of my 5K jogs. But half an hour later, after a good shower and a big glass of orange juice, I'm floating like a feather. It's pure heaven.

There were quite a few sane and concerned parties that tried to dissuade me from this habit of mine. My mom for one, god bless her, still reminds me to "watch my heart." Because, yes, people my age and even younger sometimes do die in the midst of their exercise routine or jogging. That's why I advise you to go see your doctor before picking up running, regardless of your age.

But then here is this new study that confirms all my beliefs about running: if you run regularly, you may not only be healthy and happy, but you may actually live longer. How about that?

In the 20-year scientific study conducted between 1985 and 2005 by Dr. Eliza F. Chakravarty, an immunologist and rheumatologist at Stanford University School of Medicine, 538 people who run regularly were studied together with 423 people in the control group who never ran.

Result: 15% of the runners had died during these 20 years in contrast to the 34% of the non-runners.

The study put to rest this myth as well: doesn't all that running on the pavement hurt your joints, especially in the older years? All those studied were older than 50 and Dr. Chakravarty could not find a difference in the joints between the two groups. That is, the runners did not end up with bad joints because of "all that pounding" on the hard surface.

My personal experience also supports that finding. On the weeks that I run regularly I feel a lot more limber and flexible. A few years back, I quit running for about 4 months. I not only gained weight but suddenly my knees also started to hurt while getting in and out of the car. As soon as I re-started jogging, the knee pain also went away. So I'm also pretty sure that regular running is not hurting my joints at all.

The idea is to be healthy and happy while we live since we are all here but for a brief time, whether we run or not. But to know that we might actually enjoy what we do enjoy for a while longer does not sound that bad either.