
Run to Stay Young - papad
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/run-to-stay-young/
======
pc2g4d
The conclusions drawn in the article don't seem to match the study in
question. The participants were not experimentally assigned to be either
walkers or runners; rather, they had themselves already selected whether or
not to be walkers or runners. This implies that the large proportion of older
adults who are neither walkers nor runners are not represented in this study.
It also makes it impossible to determine the direction of causality in the
correlations discovered. Did people's running cause them to be healthier? Or
did people's being healthier cause them to be runners?

~~~
CapitalistCartr
Or neither; people who run regularly tend to practice other healthy habits. Or
maybe it's mostly genetics.

~~~
pc2g4d
Good call---confounders lurk!

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cdoxsey
In 1977 Jim Fixx published the best-selling book "The Complete Book of
Running" which popularized running for sport, and purported to demonstrate its
health benefits - including increased longevity.

7 years later he died of a heart attack while jogging at the age of 52.

His death doesn't mean running is a bad idea - a single anecdote is
statistically insignificant - but perhaps it can remind us that nothing we do
can guarantee a long and healthy life.

All too often we take a mildly correlated statistic, give it a hand-wavy air
of "science", and then pronounce it as a set-in-stone moral absolute. How much
of the received wisdom about healthy lifestyles that you were taught has been
shown to be completely wrong? I don't doubt that in 3 years there will be
another New York times article, demonstrating why running is actually terrible
for you, and you should never do it no matter what age you are.

Growing up in a secular society ancient religions can seem awful strange: why
did people worship stone statues and sacrifice to them? Did they really
believe all that effort did anything?

But perhaps our modern obsession with "healthiness" reflects the same
underlying human motivation: incapable of accepting the reality of our own
deaths we grasp at anything to try and give ourselves the illusion of control.
Is eating an organic strawberry in the hopes of living longer really any
different than performing a ritualistic dance in the hopes of bringing rain?

~~~
GigabyteCoin
>nothing we do can guarantee a long and healthy life.

I don't think anybody who works out is under the assumption that they will
live to be 130+ years old.

We're all very well aware of babies with Cancer these days. Anything can
happen.

But one thing's for certain, being active certainly prolongs life. That much I
think we can all be sure of at this point.

How many true couch potatoes do you know that have made it past the ripe old
age of 90? 80 even?

~~~
gonzo
> But one thing's for certain, being active certainly prolongs life. That much
> I think we can all be sure of at this point.

what we can be sure of is that being active improves the quality of life. Hell
is not being able to move.

------
hf
As the article referenced here is rather light, here is the actual paper of
the mentioned study (open access):
[http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna...](http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0113471),
and a slightly more informative report by the University of Colorado Boulder,
[http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/11/20/running-
rea...](http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2014/11/20/running-really-can-
keep-you-young-says-cu-boulder-humboldt-state-study).

Conclusion from the paper:

    
    
      Running mitigates the age-related deterioration of walking
      economy whereas walking for exercise appears to have 
      minimal effect on the age-related deterioration in walking 
      economy.

~~~
Nicholas_C
This is great if you're older and have the physical ability to run. I suspect
that some of the non-runners can't run.

~~~
melling
I tried jogging over the summer for the first time in years, but my feet
started hurting. It would take days to recover. I gave up after 2 months. It
feels good but I seem prone to injury.

~~~
nicklaf
According to Wikipedia, 10% of all people get what's called "Plantar
Fasciitis" at some point.

In my late teens, I began to have very bad bouts of this syndrome, whenever I
sprinted. The more I ignored the pain, the longer it would take to heal.

In my early 20's, I suddenly took up running--eventually ratcheting up my
route to 7 miles--after being somewhat sedentary for a couple years. The
result of this was perhaps the worst case of Plantar Fasciitis I'd ever
developed.

Shortly after, I visited an expensive shoe store downtown, and explained my
problem to the salesman. He recommended a pair of high-end Asics, in the price
range of $80-$120. I believe the pair had the title "gel evolution" in it
somewhere. He also laced them up a special way. Whenever I use them, I
maintain this special lacing, and always have to carefully tighten them just
enough so that my feet still have enough flexibility to bend my foot without
constricting it or cutting of circulation.

These shoes provided incredible arch support, being manufactured with a great
deal of material surrounding the ankle and the sole, but while also being made
of flexible material in the rest of the shoe. (Note that the shoes I'd been
wearing when I injured myself were incredibly cheap, and had virtually no arch
support).

To further enhance the arch support, I also replaced the soles with some
fairly thick "Superfeet" soles, which are rather stiff and are curved to rise
where your arches are.

Since then, for the last 5 years, I've been running on a daily (or at least
weekly) basis--the problem has never come back, even though I seem genetically
predisposed to the syndrome. Having excellent shoes makes all the difference.

Later on, I picked up a pair of Asics from Nordstrom Rack, at a great price
(under $50). These were much cheaper (instead of having "Gel Evolution" in the
title, they were just called "Oasis"). These have worked just as well for me,
although I suspect that my continuing foot health can also partially be
attributed to the muscle strengthening of my feet, as well as good form. (When
you are still in pain, be very careful not to continue running if you feel
like you need to modify your gait in order to avoid the pain ("limping"). This
can result in injuring yourself in a new, different way, such as your knees!)

By the way, I highly recommend jogging or running, in general. I wouldn't be
the person I am today without it, since it is often when I am outside,
running, when I come up with the best ideas. I suspect this has something to
do with the time-scale of the activity (lasting long enough for sustained
thought), the freedom for the mind to roam (since exercising is not mentally
taxing), and not the least due to the increased oxygen in your system. If you
run often enough, you begin to become addicted, to the point where you feel
"high".

~~~
cha5e
Plantar Fasciitis is actually a fairly simple thing to fix if you're on top of
things early. It's very possible you were wearing sprinting spikes that had a
negative heel-to-toe drop and lengthened the fascia more than you were ready
for.

For me just changing shoes with a 6mm difference in heel-to-toe drop was
enough to create the same problem. I woke up one morning with a pain that felt
like a nail being driven up into my heel. I spent about an hour doing deep
tissue massage on my arch and calves - did a workout the same day and didn't
have any issues the next morning.

You probably don't need quite as much support as you might think if you were
willing to slowly remove support which would strengthen/stretch the muscles
around the heel.

------
mbubb
Interesting... I am approaching 50 and have noticed a slight reduction in
mobility. I have recently read articles about certain markers of mortality (or
is morbitity the word here?) - like the ability to get up from the ground
without using arms... or trying not to sit too much during the day. or trying
to walk 10,000 steps (according to that dubious android app).

Particularly the 'idea of getting up from the floor without use of arms' made
me think of certain simple motions that are hard for me. There is a Korean
buddhist practice of 108 bows - I recently tried and got to about 25. (not
just Korean - I should have said I learned it in a Korean context)

I am disturbed by the idea that there will come a day where I cant do "x"
anymore, where x is running, drinking guinness or some other such activity.

Recently bought a block of training sessions at a gym and discovered
stretching with the aid of hard plastic tubes or rollers that help stretch out
areas of the body that are a bit hard to stretch otherwise. Hip flexors,
trapezius (sp?), etc. This has greatly improved my mobility and has helped me
do things which were hard to do before (shoulder presses, running) without
pain.

Reading this article it made me think of how walking alone might not stretch
out muscles in the same way as running (or swimming, rowing, etc).

"But researchers and older people themselves also have noted that walking
ability tends to decline with age. Older people whose primary exercise is
walking often start walking more slowly and with greater difficulty as the
years pass, fatiguing more easily."

They don't explicitly talk about flexibilty and running but some form of
stretching is somewhat implied. It might be interesting to see those possible
correlations.

And I thought of the octo- (and maybe nono-) genarian Koreans who would
briskly walk by me on the small mountains in Seoul on their way to a temple to
throw down a few bows...

~~~
snarkyturtle
There lots of examples of older people still managing to be active. There's
Fauja Singh, who ran a 10K at an age of 101:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/24/fauja-singh-last-
ra...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/24/fauja-singh-last-race-oldest-
marathon-runner-101_n_2754280.html)

And the world record holder for a pole vault (90+ years of age):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX9h5PVNGaY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX9h5PVNGaY)

~~~
hcarvalhoalves
77 year old grandma deadlifting 215 pounds:

[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/11/29/inspiration-
na...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/11/29/inspiration-nation-
grandma-powerlifter/19656645/)

------
increment_i
After 30 years of running, I can attest to the irreversible damage caused to
knees, shins, and other joints and ligaments due to running on paved and other
man made surfaces. A good alternative as you get up in years is swimming
and/or cycling or recumbent biking.

~~~
chatmasta
I ran 4 years of D1 cross country. Can confirm. The oft-repeated trope is
"concrete is 12x harder than soft surface grass." Not sure how true that is or
how the physics work, but stay away from roads. Run on the dirt on the side of
them.

~~~
elwell
I would rather run on a level surface even if it is harder. You can hurt your
knee or ankle rather quickly running through some fields; but that's part of
the experience I guess.

~~~
cha5e
Running on an uneven running surface isn't bad for you at all. Most people run
primarily on the roads - so if they encounter a long path with uneven terrain
- the ancillary muscles that control stabilization generally tire more
quickly. It's all about transitioning slowly and letting the muscles, that
haven't been used very often, strengthen.

------
suprgeek
We need to be wary of drawing the conclusions drawn here - the big tip-off is
this sentence from the paper: "...Runners self-reported running for exercise
three or more times per week for at least 30 minutes per bout and for at least
six months prior to the study. "

A self-reported group of old runners can apparently walk more efficiently than
a self-reported group of old walkers...but the runners were fit enough to run
and sustain running to begin with!!

So older people who were fit enough to sustainably run for 6+ months were
fitter than older folks who (were possibly not as fit) but choose to walk?

Horrible study...randomly assign fit older people to one or other group, let
them run or walk for 6+ months - measure. Reverse the groups again measure.

~~~
lightcatcher
I think the study is assigning health benefits to "being a runner" rather than
just "running". It's likely that the selected group of runners who had been
running regularly for 6 months had been running regularly for much much
longer, perhaps 10+ years. I'm definitely not an expert on the subject, but I
don't know how many people are in good enough shape at age 60+ to start
running, and I imagine most people running at age 60+ started running no later
than their mid 50's.

The real thing you want to control for is the health of the runners and the
walkers at the time the runners started running.

------
brisky
I am 27 years old and after few months of intensive running I got a spinal
disc herniation. It took me about a half a year to recover from it. So my
advice is not to rush into running without learning proper techniques and
getting guidance from professionals.

------
pandler
I'm certainly no scientist nor statistician, but studies like this bother me
because of their tiny sample size. They studied 30 people. My understanding
was always that you needed more samples than that to reach any kind of
statistical significance.

Can anyone in the know comment on how realistic or significant it is for a
study of this nature to reach any kind of conclusion from a sample size of 30?

------
dont_be_mean
Alan Turing ran to stay calm. He said: "I have such a stressful job that the
only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard."

------
dschiptsov
Running also has an effect similar to rope skipping - all the inner organs
receive a "free massage". It might be that simple.

------
plg
isn't running absolutely horrible for one's joints (e.g. knees)?

not to mention the bowel issues

~~~
k-mcgrady
The joints issue was my first thought too. Could you explain the bowel point
though? How does running effect this?

~~~
kolev
Runner's diarrhea [0].

[0] [http://www.mayoclinic.org/runners-diarrhea/expert-
answers/fa...](http://www.mayoclinic.org/runners-diarrhea/expert-
answers/faq-20058107)

~~~
k-mcgrady
Interesting, thanks.

------
kolev
I think "Stay Young to Run" is a much more truthful.

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SCAQTony
NOPE - Show me a runner who is 50 and he looks like 70. Show a swimmer who is
70 and he looks like 50. At late middle age running is dangerous.

~~~
kazinator
Ah, the 70 at 50 problem is due to years of roaming around outdoors without
using sunscreen, not due to running.

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kolev
Didn't know that Sardinians and Okinawans were all runners...

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curiously
lot of the comments sound fatalistic, almost seems like they are invalidating
and refuting healthy lifestyles.

