Jogging is a great way to exercise, but a new Danish study says it is best to limit the activity to no more than a few days a week.
The UMHS Endeavour looks at why jogging is great for you, but doing it for more than three hours per week may be harmful. We will briefly explain the study as reported by MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and U.S. Institutes of Health and why health-conscious people and students at American and Caribbean medical schools should take note of the study's findings.
Jog No More than 2.4 Hours Per Week: Study
It is best to keep total jogging time under three hours weekly, according to the study at the Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen Denmark, quoted in MedlinePlus.
"In this study, the dose of running that was most favorable for reducing mortality was jogging 1 to 2.4 hours per week, with no more than three running days per week," said study researcher Jacob Marott of the Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He said jogging five miles per hour, at a slow or average pace, is best.
Highlights of Study
Researcher Jacob Marrot and colleagues at Frederiksberg Hospital followed, out of 5,000 healthy Danish adults, approximately 1,100 healthly joggers and 413 sedentary individuals for 12 years. Joggers noted hours and frequency of jogging as well as "perception of pace."
Out of a pool of about 5,000 healthy Danish adults, Marott and his colleagues followed nearly 1,100 healthy joggers and 413 sedentary people for more than 12 years. The joggers noted their hours and frequency of jogging, and their "perception of their pace."
Investigators discovered that strenuous joggers "were as likely to die during that time period as the sedentary non-joggers. Light joggers and moderate joggers fared better, in that order, Marott's team found," MedlinePlus said.
Why might strenuous jogging be harmful to one's health? "We believe that long-term strenuous endurance exercise may induce pathological structural remodeling of the heart and large arteries," Marott said.
The findings will be printed in the February 10, 2015 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
(Top photo) EASY DOES IT: A Danish study says jogging at just 5 miles per hour for less than 3 hours a week is healthiest. Photo: Monumenteer2014/Wikimedia Commons
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Scott is Director of Digital Content & Alumni Communications Liaison at UMHS and editor of the UMHS Endeavour blog. When he's not writing about UMHS students, faculty, events, public health, alumni and UMHS research, he writes and edits Broadway theater reviews for a website he publishes in New York City, StageZine.com.
