A new study, published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that running a mile in under 4 minutes, known as a "sub-4" in running terms, can add about five years to your life expectancy compared to the general population.
This finding is based on an analysis of the health records of 200 elite male runners born in the United Kingdom, Australia, France, New Zealand, and the United States between 1928 and 1955, all of whom are now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Compared to a matched control group, the researchers found that these runners lived an average of about five years longer than the general population, and may have lived even longer because most are still alive.
Exercise as a Key to Longevity
Exercise is one of the most important things you can do to improve your chances of living a long and healthy life, along with getting enough sleep and eating a healthy diet. However, how much exercise is enough to reap the maximum benefits is still a topic of debate in the scientific community.
The World Health Organization (WHO) currently recommends that healthy adults get at least 150-300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise. There are several ways to gauge the intensity of your workout, but here's a simple trick: if you're working out at a moderate intensity, you should be able to talk, but not sing, while you're exercising. Your breathing will be faster, but you should still be able to breathe steadily, and you'll start sweating after about 10 minutes.
Walking or jogging at a slow pace are examples of moderate-intensity exercise. However, if you're running at a faster pace, like these elite runners, you're likely doing vigorous-intensity exercise, which means you'll be breathing hard and fast, sweating after just a few minutes, and unable to talk fluently while you're exercising.
Previous research has shown that getting the recommended amount of exercise every day can add anywhere from 0.4 to 4.2 years to your life. However, elite runners typically train for much longer periods of time, often up to 600 minutes, or 10 hours, per week.
Some studies have suggested that there's no need to exercise more than the WHO recommends, as the health and longevity benefits start to plateau after about 300 minutes of exercise per week. There's also an increased risk of exercise-related injuries.
More Exercise May Be Better
However, some other studies have suggested that more exercise may actually be better.
For example, a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2022 found that people who exercised double to quadruple the amount recommended by the WHO had a 23-38% lower risk of all-cause mortality.
Specifically, their risk of dying from cardiovascular disease was reduced by 33-38%, compared to 22-31% for those who simply met the WHO's minimum exercise recommendations.
Another study from Harvard University also found that people who exercised more than the recommended amount had a 10-30% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those who only met the recommendations.
Looking at the Elite Athletes Who Exercise the Most
One way to get a sense of whether more exercise is better is to look at the lifespans of athletes, who are in the unique position of having much more time and intensity to train than the general population.
In 2011, a study published in the journal Sports Medicine found that cyclists who competed in the Tour de France had a 17% longer average lifespan than the general population.
Looking at over 800 cyclists from France, Italy, and Belgium, the researchers found that the average age at which 50% of these cyclists died was 81.5 years, compared to 73.5 years in the control group.
A 2014 study in the journal PloS One also found that rowers had longer lifespans than average. And the same is true for Olympic athletes, who were found to have a five-year longer lifespan than the general population in a 2019 study published in the journal Sports Medicine.
Do the Same Benefits Apply to Runners?
But do these same benefits apply to runners?
In 2018, a study published in the journal Lancet revealed a startling statistic. Looking at the lifespans of the first 20 runners to break the 4-minute mile, the researchers found that this group had a 12-year longer lifespan than the general population.
"Men who can run