Jogging 'adds five years or more to life' Peter Schnohr, chief cardiologist on the heart study project, said: "We can say with certainty that regular jogging increases longevity. The good news is that you don't actually need to do that much to reap the benefits. The study, started in 1976, has followed the cardiovascular health of around 20,000 people aged 20 to 93. The jogging sub-study looked at 1,116 male joggers and 762 female joggers and compared their lifespans to non-joggers in the main study population. Joggers were asked to assess whether they ran at a slow, average, or fast pace. Dr Schnohr, who is based at Bispebjerg University Hospital in Copenhagen, said there was a U-shaped relationship between the amount and intensity of jogging and a person's risk of dying over a particular period. He said: "Mortality is lower in people reporting moderate jogging, than in non-joggers or those undertaking extreme levels of exercise. You should aim to feel a little breathless, but not very breathless. Last year he presented similar research from the same heart study, looking at the impact of cycle commuting on cardiovascular health. It found slightly different results: those who pedalled the hardest, tended to live the longest. He said at the time: "It is the intensity, not the duration, of cycling that is of the greatest importance in relation to all forms of mortality, or longevity, and it is even more pronounced for coronary heart disease." The difference is probably explained by the fact that, as performed by most people, normal jogging is more strenuous than normal cycling. Natasha Stewart, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Physical activity has long been associated with improved health and so it's no surprise to see just how beneficial jogging could be."