Run slow to live long

WASHINGTON: Jogging fast could do more harm than good, researchers have found, adding that just an hour of slow running per week could bolster your chances of living long.

"If your goal is to decrease risk of death and improve life expectancy, jogging a few times a week at a moderate pace is a good strategy. Anything more is not just unnecessary, it may be harmful," said Peter Schnohr, researcher at the Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jogging from one to 2.4 hours per week was associated with the lowest mortality rates and the optimal frequency of jogging was no more than three times per week.

The researchers looked at 5,048 participants in the Copenhagen City Heart Study and questioned them about their activity.

They identified and tracked 1,098 healthy joggers and 413 healthy but sedentary non-joggers for 12 years.

While strenuous joggers were as likely to die as sedentary non-joggers, light joggers had the lowest rates of death, the findings showed.

"It is important to emphasize that the pace of the slow joggers corresponds to vigorous exercise and strenuous jogging corresponds to very vigorous exercise," Schnohr said.

"When performed for decades, this activity level could pose health risks, especially to the cardiovascular system," Schnohr added.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.