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Running on a regular basis can slow the effects of ageing, a study by US researchers shows.
Elderly joggers were half as likely to die prematurely from conditions like cancer than non-runners.
They also enjoyed a healthier life with fewer disabilities, the Stanford University Medical Center team found.
Experts said the findings in Archives of Internal Medicine reinforced the importance that older people exercise regularly.

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. 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.

"If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise" - Professor James Fries

Running not only appeared to slow the rate of heart and artery related deaths, but was also associated with fewer early deaths
from cancer, neurological disease, infections and other causes. And there was no evidence that runners were more likely to suffer
osteoarthritis or need total knee replacements than non-runners - something scientists have feared.

At the beginning of the study, the runners ran for about four hours a week on average. After 21 years, their weekly running time
had reduced to around 76 minutes, but they were still seeing health benefits from taking regular exercise.

Lead author Professor James Fries, emeritus professor of medicine at Stanford, said: "The study has a very pro-exercise message.
If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise.

"The health benefits of exercise are greater than we thought."