You probably already know that running’s pretty good for us – it’s been associated with better heart health, stronger bones, better sleep, and improved mood.
It could even help us to live longer.
But how much running do we need to do to see benefits?
Well, it might be a lot less than you think – one study found that running about 10km a week led to roughly the same health advantages as jogging far longer.
And another paper linked less than an hour and a half’s worth of running a week to a biological age 12 years younger than non-runners.
Our biological age refers to the “wear and tear happening inside the body at a cellular and molecular level,” and is different to the years we’ve lived (chronological age).
How much running lowers your biological age by 12 years?
The research, published in 2023, found that 75 minutes of running or jogging a week was linked to a “biological age difference of approximately 12 years” compared to non-runners.
This appeared to stay true even after lifestyle and medical factors were taken into consideration.
The study looked at 4,458 US adults and measured their biological age by looking at their leukocyte telomeres.
Telomeres are structures that humans have at the ends of our chromosomes, and which keep our cells working better for longer. They tend to shrink when we age.
They have been compared to “the protective plastic caps at the end of shoelaces”. Shorter telomeres are linked to a shorter life.
Leukocyte telomeres are the telomeres at the ends of white blood cell chromosomes.
These have been used to gauge mortality risk in some groups, and are often chosen as a great indicator of biological ageing.
In this study, “The leukocyte telomere length difference between the non-joggers/runners and those who met the [exercise guidelines of 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week] accounted for a biological age difference of approximately 12 years in favor of the runners”.
More research is needed, however
This study didn’t see the same telomere length advantages in runners and joggers who didn’t reach 75 minutes a week.
This “could mean that jogging or running less than 75 min per week is simply not enough work to protect leukocyte telomeres and slow biological ageing,” the paper reads, adding that more research is needed.
Still, they said, “it appears that 75 min of vigorous activity per week achieved via jogging and/or running is a valid recommendation due to the finding that adults in this category had significantly longer telomeres than adults who did not engage in jogging or running”.
