Running linked to reduced risk of heart-related death.

ABC World News (7/28, story 10, 0:30, Sawyer) reported that a study suggests that running for “even as little as five or ten minutes a day, even at slow speeds, can cut the risk of heart-related death.”

        On NBC Nightly News (7/28, story 9, 2:25, Williams), NBC’s Rehema Ellis said that the “study...from the journal of the American College of Cardiology shows you only need a few minutes a day to get significant heart health benefits.”

        USA Today (7/29, Bui) reports that researchers “examined more than 50,000 adults between 18 and 100 over a period of 15 years.” The investigators “used data from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study, where participants completed a questionnaire about their running habits. In the sample,” approximately “24% of participants reported running as part of their leisure-time exercise.”

        The Los Angeles Times (7/29, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that the data indicated that “compared to those who didn’t run, those who did were 30% less likely to die of any cause during the course of the study.” Additionally, “they were...45% less likely to die as a result of cardiovascular disease.”

        A piece in the Washington Post (7/28, Searing) points out that “running regularly for at least six years...was associated with the best mortality odds, with a 50 percent lower risk for cardiovascular-related death.”

        The CNN (7/29, Wadas-Willingham) “The Chart” blog reports that “runners on average lived three years longer than those who did not hit the pavement.”

        Also covering the story are Reuters (7/29, Doyle), HealthDay (7/29, Thompson), the NBC News (7/29, Carroll) website, TIME(7/29), and Forbes (7/29).

        Heat stroke may be more dangerous for runners than heart rhythm problems. Forbes (7/29) contributor Larry Husten writes that the increasing “popularity of marathons and other extreme sports has sparked worries about the potential dangers of these activities.” Although “the popular press and medical research have both focused on the risk of cardiac arrest and other heart rhythm problems,” research “published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that a much more serious danger may be heat stroke.”

        HealthDay (7/29, Dallas) reports that investigators “analyzed information compiled on all death and hospitalizations that occurred at 14 long-distance races in Tel Aviv between March 2007 and November 2013.” Among “nearly 140,000 runners, only two serious heart-related events were reported during the study period.” Comparatively, “21 people developed heat stroke.”