Running can slow ageing

The work tracked 500 older runners for more than 20 years, comparing them to a similar group of non-runners. All were in their 50s at the start of the study.

What I find interesting and surprising is the magnitude of the benefits from running:

Nineteen years into the study, 34% of the non-runners had died compared to only 15% of the runners.

Both groups became more disabled with age, but for the runners the onset of disability started later - an average of 16 years later.

The health gap between the runners and non-runners continued to widen even as the subjects entered their ninth decade of life.

Note, however, that the runners were pretty hard core, running "for about four hours a week on average." Link: BBC News