"Three's a crowd" by Thomas Rousing, a photo shared in the Boing Boing Flickr Pool.
A study released this week in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that participants who ran less than one hour each week received the same health benefits as people who ran more.
Their gender, age, body mass index, health conditions and smoking status made no difference in this finding — nor did the pace at which subjects ran.
The study tracked 55,137 adults who were 18 to 100 years of age, with an average age of 44 years.
Results: During a mean follow-up of 15 years, 3,413 all-cause and 1,217 cardiovascular deaths occurred. Approximately 24% of adults participated in running in this population. Compared with nonrunners, runners had 30% and 45% lower adjusted risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, respectively, with a 3-year life expectancy benefit. In dose-response analyses, the mortality benefits in runners were similar across quintiles of running time, distance, frequency, amount, and speed, compared with nonrunners. Weekly running even Conclusions: Running, even 5 to 10 min/day and at slow speeds
More analysis in this USA Today article, and in this Reuters item.
American College of Cardiology Foundation
