How Will Running Affect Your Life Expectancy and Quality of Life?

It's commonly thought, at least among non-runners, that running takes a serious toll on your body and ruins your knees.

People often tell me they can't run because they have bad knees. Sometimes they ask me about my knees, the suggestion being that mine must be bad. When they find out I've been running for over 30 years and that I run at least 5 days a week, they are certain of it.

I'm always happy to explain that I have no knee pain. I have never had any knee pain except when I did something else to cause it. Once, I tried swimming laps with fins. I had heard that it was good for increasing flexibility in the ankles, a stiff area for me. Well, I never got to find out because after I tried swimming with fins for just a few laps, the next time I ran, there was an uncomfortable feeling in my knees accompanied by a distinct clicking in my knee joint with every step. I don't understand what happened, but a few days later, the clicking stopped; I never tried the fins again.

That doesn't mean swimming with fins is bad; it's probably fine for most people, but my knees didn't like it.

The point is that running has not ruined my knees. On the contrary, since I run year round, with no knee pain, I'd say that running has been good for my knees. And that's an important topic for me because my mom had to have both knees replaced due to arthritis.

No, running is more likely to help your knees than ruin them, but the life changing benefits of running go far beyond healthier knees.

Dr. James Fries conducted a study at Stanford University over a 20 year span beginning in 1984. His team team followed 500 runners over the age of 50 and compared them to a group of non-runners.

The results of their research should be more than enough motivation for non-runners to become runners and for any runner to continue running and make it a lifelong habit.

When Dr. Fries and his colleagues began their study, running was just becoming popular. At the time, I think we would all have called it a fad. Thank goodness it turned out to be much more than that.

Anyway, back then the common perception was that exercise might actually be harmful for older adults. Fries questioned that idea, hypothesizing that exercise would not only extend life, but also, and equally important, postpone disability and improve the quality of life as the runners aged.

The study confirmed his hypothesis, but the results were even more encouraging than he had expected.

At the start of the study, the average per week running distance for the running group was 4 hours, and that declined to just 76 minutes per week by the end of the study; however, the health benefits of running were still continuing at the end of the 20 year study.

The runners lived longer, too. After 19 years, death records revealed that 34 percent of the non-runners had died, while only 15 percent of the runners had died. "Elderly runners have fewer disabilities, a longer span of active life and are half as likely as aging nonrunners to die early deaths, the research found."

Running did not increase the rate of osteoarthritis or total knee replacements, either.

So there you have it. Runners live longer and enjoy a better quality of life into their eighth and even ninth decade of life. That is great news. There is much more in the article, so you'll probably want to read the whole thing.

It's titled,  Running Slows the Aging Clock Standford Researcher Finds.

In fact, you might want to read it every time your motivation wanes.

If you're over 50, I suggest cutting it out and posting it on your refrigerator.

My good friend Velma ran the New York City Marathon on her 70th birthday. This year she'll be running it again to commemorate her 73rd year. Lots of people have birthday traditions; some go out to dinner; Velma runs the NYC Marathon. There was never a greater lover of life, and she doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon. She doesn't have time to slow down.

One of my good friends, Emery, at age 84, is training hard in hopes of qualifying for the 2011 Boston Marathon; he started running in his 40's and now has so many awards that he has a separate room in his house to display them all.

Another runnng mate, Frank, 73, is a personal trainer at the YMCA. He spends the better part of every day training people from their 20's to their 80's and inspiring them all by his example. He taught me a few new core exercises the other day. I found them pretty tough, but he did them without even straining.

I have many runner friends in their 70's and 80's, and all are very healthy. None look their age, and, certainly, none of them act their age, at least none of them act the stereotype for their age. I guess you could say they are redefining the whole aging thing.

They could all pass for decades younger. The difference between these 70 and 80 somethings and their non-running counterparts is nothing short of amazing.

Next time you look at race results, scroll on down to the older age groups, the masters runners and grand masters runners. You'll be shocked at two things: One, that there are as many as there are, depending on the size of the race, of course, and two, you'll be amazed at the times.

As for myself, I am 56, and I can honestly say that I feel almost as good as I did in my 20's. The only way that I've had to compromise my activity is that now I have to wear glasses to read. That's a pain in the neck because I now have to wear a contact in one eye in order to read my Garmin while running, but, I'm not really complaining because other than that, I can't think of a single thing I can't do that I did then. Life is actually better now. Why? Because I now have the wisdom to appreciate my good fitness. I took it for granted back then.

So, in addition to all the other benefits, running will probably help you live longer and enjoy a better quality of life for the rest of your life.

For me, that's just the icing on the cake.

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