How giving up watching Eastenders could be good for your long term health

If you gave up watching Eastenders and instead spent that twice weekly half-an-hour slot jogging you could drastically improve your long term health. This isn’t just my view - though I am a keen advocate of the benefits of running. An article I came across in the June 2012 issue of CAM magazine talked about the findings of Dr Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist of the Copenhagen City Heart Study who concluded that “they can now say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity and that you don’t have to do that much to reap the benefits”. He reported to the EuroPRevent2012 meeting in Dublin that their study shows that “between one and two-and-a-half hours of jogging per week at a slow or average pace delivers the maximum optimum benefits for longevity” .

In the past I have met people who have been somewhat anti jogging and at some point in the conversation they usually quote, as their proof that jogging is inherently dangerous, the case of Jim Fixx who famously died while out on a run. Leaving aside the fact that these people rarely have the statistics to hand for the number of people who die each year while sitting on the sofa watching Eastenders, it looks the CAM article may provide me with the statistics to help me argue my case: it noted the long term mortality results recorded by Dr Schnohr: in a follow-up period involving a maximum of 35 years, 10,158 deaths were registered among the non-joggers and 122 deaths among the joggers.

If you needed further convincing about the benefits of getting off the sofa and pulling on a pair of trainers for a short run, Dr Schnohr listed a whole list of health benefits attributable to jogging including:” improved oxygen uptake, increased insulin sensitivity, improved lipid profiles (raising HDL and lowering triglycerides), lowers blood pressure, reduces platelet aggregation, increases fibrinolytic activity, improves cardiac function, bone density, immune function, reduces inflammation markers, prevents obesity, and improves physiological function.” Surely this should be enough to make anyone switch off Eastenders!