run, run but you cannot hide (from the benefits of running)

@cjlortie

benefits examples

direct

indirect

increase blood flow

prevent disease

burn calories

mood

reduce stress

cardiac health

weight loss

brain function

moderate immune boosts

serotonin receptors

costs examples

direct

indirect

risk of injury

time

biomechanical wear

financial

immune stress

cardiac events

joint-osteoarthritis

$1000/yr

250 hours/yr

inflammation-cortisol

running makes me happy

no research needed to make some decisions

nonetheless, evidence can help us make informed and

often better decisions

favorite myth: running kills

Schnohr et al. 2015

2 strenuous runners died

over 100 couch sitters died

cost-benefit relationship & pace

cause of death unreported

many running myths

more expensive shoes reduce injury

running is bad for you knees

pregnant women should not run

eating pasta before a race boosts performance

stretching reduces risk of running injuries

muscle cramps caused by dehydration

errors or challenges to study

low sample sizes

statistical significance does not necessarily equate to biological significance

unbalanced designs

correlation almost always implies causation

how do you resolve differences between individual runners or between individual studies?

paired contrasts, vote counts, & narrative reviews ALL fail

solutions

experiment of one(quantified self)

big data

syntheses using effect sizes

meta-analysis

gold standard solution

meta-analysis

set of studies

weightedstrength of evidence

treatment/control

does running significantly improve health outcomes?

Junior et al. 2015

49 studies

17,875 individuals

1 yr of habitual running vs control

does running significantly improve health outcomes?

Junior et al. 2015

body mass -3.3kg

resting heart rate -6.7/min

triglycerides 16.9 mg.dl

VO2max + 7.1 ml.min

7/10 outcomes positive 25-30% net difference

how should we run?

Gist et al. 2014

17 studies

318 individuals

sprint interval training vs running vs control

how should we run?

Gist et al. 2014

aerobic capacity measures

70% of outcomes positive

8% net difference sprint to running

20% net different relative to control

how far should we run?

86 studies

181,778 individuals

sprinters to ultra marathoners

Kluitenberg et al. 2015

should we wear minimalist shoes?

Fuller et al. 2015

19 studies

634 runners

lower metabolic costs

reduced impact

but not economy

decisions, decisions

200,000 individuals tested confirm benefits of running

fast & short most benefit

<10% risk unless you runreally far

secret surprise: light running beats swimming benefits