Recreational Running and Type 2 Diabetes
Running may reduce risk of type 2 diabetes.
Here’s more support for the benefits of recreational running. Data analysis from more than 19,000 male and female adults over an average of 6.5 years showed that leisure-time running was linked with a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Runners had a 28% lower risk of developing the disease than nonrunners. And the risk was directly related in a linear relationship to the amount of weekly running time—those who spent the most time running had the lowest risk. This relationship also held true for other parameters like weekly distance (≥6 miles), frequency (≥3 times), total amount (≥540 MET-min) and speed (≥6.7 mph). Runners with the most significant protective effect were active 51–80 minutes per week, suggesting that it may not be necessary to achieve a 75-minute-per-week minimum, as recommended in the physical activity guidelines.
The study appeared in The American Journal of Medicine (2019; 132 [10], 1225–32).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
