Strenuous jogging bad for your health

Heading out for a jog? Be cautious of intensity and how long you jog for, you could be cutting years from your life. 

Although jogging is touted for being a great form of exercise, research is uncovering there can be too much of a good thing. In fact, some researchers have noted that too much jogging is just as bad as not exercising at all.

To better understand the findings, let’s look into the study that came to this conclusion.

Relation between jogging and death rates

Researchers at the Copenhagen City Heart Study followed more than 1,000 joggers and 400 healthy inactive non-joggers. Between 2001 and 2014, there were 156 deaths. 

For comparison purposes, the death rate of the non-joggers was used against the jogging group.

Results revealed that the death rate of light-joggers was 90 percent lower than non-joggers. For moderate joggers, the death rate was 60 percent. 

The biggest surprise was in comparing non-joggers to strenuous joggers, the death rates were equal. Meaning, strenuous joggers received no benefits of a longer life in comparison to people who didn’t partake in any physical activity.

The study uncovered that jogging for one hour a week was associated with a lower death rate. Ideally, joggers should aim for a slow to moderate pace, two to three times a week. The findings were published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 ways to pace yourself when jogging

When you first tie up the laces of your running shoes it may be instinct to sprint, but a study shows fast and hard isn’t more beneficial to your health. This is why it’s important to pace yourself.

Pacing yourself while jogging may seem difficult, especially if you’re used to bolting off from the start. Practicing these tips can help you get more out of your jog, including living longer.

Don’t use a GPS: Many joggers will use a hand-held GPS system to track their jog. The problem with this is they become dependent on their time and location so they tend to over-exert themselves. Instead only check your pace within the first two to three minutes and ignore it the rest of the way. This way you won’t feel the added pressure of keeping up with a time.

Breathe: Proper breathing is essential for jogging and it can also help you determine your pace. You want to ensure you can still take full, complete breaths while jogging.

If you notice your breath becomes shorter or louder, this is an indication that you’re going too fast.

Workouts: Along with jogging, other exercises should be implemented to create a complete routine. 

Workouts that allow you to change your pace (think high intensity interval training) allow you to feel and notice a difference in change of pace.

Exercise in general offers many benefits to health so each one of us should implement some form of it into our daily lives. Just ensure you’re performing all exercises properly and safely for maximum benefits.