Run For Your Life
Does a ‘Running Lifestyle’ protect your heart?
Some years ago now, a famous journalist and sports writer called Jim Fixx wrote the ‘Complete Book of Running’ extolling the virtues of the running lifestyle and then died tragically during an early morning 6 mile (10 kilometer) run in Vermont, U.S.A. The running cynics were quick to jump on the bandwagon and criticize running and its potential risk to heart health.
However Kenneth Cooper in his book entitled ‘Running without Fear’ puts it all in perspective. He clearly identifies that runners should have a knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors and be aware if any of them may cause problems to the heart when running.
I have been fortunate in gaining many years of experience dealing with regular runners including some of the higher risk sections of this population who wish to literally ‘run to protect their hearts’. This was gained through forming Action Heart in the U.K, a national programme for cardiac rehabilitation subsequently winning world acclaim for its research. Also with my involvement around post heart attack (MI) runners, as programme director of the world famous Toronto Rehabilitation Centre in Canada; where we trained post heart attack victims to run safely, even to the point of sometimes being able to run a full marathon.
Through these experiences I became aware that sometimes running carries with it an increased likelihood of risk to the heart. Equally there have been cardiac related events at international marathons including The London Marathon, which have resulted in heart attacks and premature death. However this whole scenario needs to be put in perspective. A famous study in the U.S.A., the ‘Rhode Island Joggers Study’ looked at 1 million people from this area during a seven year period (1975-82) and there were 81 exercise related cardiac events. But then you have to look at the complete population and compare the number of deaths from all other causes and you will surely find thousands more such events related to a sedentary inactive lifestyle.
The bottom line; when you exercise, including running, the potential risk for cardiac related problems increases 6 or 7 fold. In comparison the cardio protective benefits associated with regular exercise and running can be up to 100 fold. So what is the message?
Very simply:
- The benefits outweigh the risks
- It makes perfect sense to assess cardiovascular risk before planning to run especially if you have been sedentary for a considerable time, in order to hedge your bets in favour of safe cardio protective running
- You should run sensibly with adequate preparation for longer events and use the right training zones for your age, sex, physical condition and experience.
So with intrigue together with my team from Wellness International we conducted over 1000 tests on individuals prior to the 2002 London Marathon. These included runners, some family members of those runners and running exhibition staff themselves, with one main question in mind. Do those people associated with running have better cardio vascular profiles than the average population? The answer was unreservedly “Yes”. As a follow on, Dr Jonathan Darby in 2004 with my help conducted a survey on 4000 runners, pre The London Marathon. He found their key cardiovascular and lifestyle risk numbers to be significantly lower when compared with the general population with one important caveat. When asked if they knew their key numbers 93% didn’t know their cholesterol scores, and 89% did not know their blood pressure scores. One only has to look at the 2005 Great North run when there were 5 cardiac related crises on what was an exceptionally warm day, to realize the value of knowing potential heart risk numbers and of course avoiding dehydration, which in itself can be a precursor to cardiac arrhythmias (dangerous heart rhythms).
So running is certainly a great antidote to risk and even in former heart patients running can be of great value providing that potential runners; prepare properly, ideally know their cardiovascular/lifestyle health profiles and train sensibly.
My final comment: the run whether it be a 10k, half marathon or full marathon should be ‘the icing on the cake’. The ingredients of proper preparation and health knowledge should then make the actual event itself a pleasure, not a pain.
Dr L Dorian Dugmore
Download – Run for your life pdf
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