Elite runners live years longer than the average person, scientists find: ScienceAlert

Running at least 10 hours a week for more than 120 km (75 miles) is an extreme effort. But far from pushing the body beyond its limits, a new study suggests some professional athletes are adding years to their lives with such brutal routines.

The analysis includes public health data from the first 200 people who walked a mile in under four minutes in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. According to a team of researchers from Canada and Australia, these professional runners lived on average almost five years longer than the general population.

The findings contradict the view that too much exercise has negative long-term health consequences. Pushing the human body to its limits can even be beneficial, at least for some.

Although numerous epidemiological studies suggest that physically active individuals live longer than inactive individuals, it is thus far unclear whether exercising more than recommended is good or bad for health.

Some scientists suggest that the lifestyle of high-intensity athletes who participate in marathons, endurance cycling or triathlons puts unnecessary strain on their hearts, putting them at greater risk of premature death. But while strenuous exercise can certainly put sedentary individuals at risk for health problems, the results may be different for seasoned athletes.

In 2022, a Harvard study found that people who exercised more than recommended could reduce their risk of death by 30 percent – ​​10 percent more than those who met activity guidelines.

Cardiologist Stephen Foulkes and his colleagues from the University of Alberta write that epidemiological studies of Tour de France cyclists, Olympic athletes and rowers have shown longer lifespans compared to the general population.

Now researchers have shown that this pattern also applies to the fastest mile runners.

Athletes who can cross a milestone in less than 4 minutes are a unique population known for maximizing their respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal systems.

To achieve this level of speed, runners regularly participate in intense bouts of physical activity throughout the week.

In 2018, cardiologists discovered that the first twenty runners to run a kilometer in under four minutes lived an average of twelve years longer than the general life expectancy.

The new study considers a larger cohort over three decades.

Interestingly, runners who completed a mile in less than four minutes in the 1960s had a higher life expectancy than runners who achieved the feat in successive decades.

“This may reflect improvements in life expectancy in the general population,” the authors suggest, as well as the “control of several important communicable and non-communicable diseases.”

In other words, not all of the life expectancy benefits that professional athletes see may be due to their lifestyle alone. For example, it is possible that athletes possess beneficial genes at a higher rate than the general population. In the group of 200-mile runners, the researchers counted 20 sets of siblings and several father-son duos.

“Although we could not determine the cause of death for the majority of runners, studies on Tour de France cyclists and cohorts of Olympians (including middle-to-long distance runners) suggest that the effects on longevity are primarily mediated by reduced cardiac numbers – diseases and cancer.” -related mortality,” Foulkes and colleagues write.

The outcome of their analysis, the team added, “reiterates the benefits of exercise for longevity, even at the training level required for peak performance.”

The research was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.