Sub-4-Minute Mile Runners May Live Nearly Five Years Longer

Elite exercise and longevity

Running for 10 hours each week and covering more than 120 km (75 miles) is undeniably an extreme form of exercise. However, rather than driving the body past its limits, a recent study indicates that some Olympic-standard professional athletes may gain extra years of life from these punishing training regimes.

Published in May, the analysis drew on public health records for the first 200 people to run a mile in less than 4 minutes during the 1950s, '60s and '70s. A research team from Canada and Australia found that these professional runners lived nearly five years longer, on average, than the wider population.

These results challenge the idea that very high levels of exercise produce harmful long-term health effects. For at least some people, taking the human body to its maximum capacity may instead be advantageous.

Although many epidemiological studies show that active people tend to outlive inactive people, it remains uncertain whether exercising beyond recommended levels helps or harms health.

Some scientists have argued that the demanding lifestyles of athletes competing in marathons, endurance cycling and triathlons may place excessive strain on the heart, increasing their likelihood of premature death.

Yet, while intense physical activity can clearly raise the risk of health problems for sedentary people, experienced athletes may have different outcomes.

A Harvard study in 2022 found that people who exercised above the recommended amount could reduce their risk of death by 30 percent – 10 percent more than people who followed activity guidelines.

University of Alberta cardiologist Stephen Foulkes and his colleagues note that epidemiological research involving Tour de France cyclists, Olympic athletes and rowers has likewise identified longer lifespans than those seen in the general population.

Sub-4-minute mile runners also live longer

Researchers have now found that the same trend applies to the fastest mile runners.

Athletes capable of completing a mile in under 4 minutes are a distinctive group, recognised for pushing their respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal systems to the limit.

To reach such speeds, runners repeatedly undertake bouts of high-intensity physical activity during the week.

In 2018, cardiologists reported that the first 20 athletes to run a mile in under 4 minutes lived 12 years longer than general life expectancy, on average.

The latest research examines a broader cohort spanning three decades.

Notably, runners who ran a mile in under 4 minutes during the 1960s had a longer life expectancy than those who accomplished the feat in later decades.

"This may reflect improvements in life expectancy from the general population," the authors suggest, alongside the "management of several major communicable and non-communicable diseases."

Genetics and causes of death

Put another way, the entire life-expectancy advantage observed among professional athletes may not stem from their lifestyle alone. Athletes may, for example, have favourable genes more often than the general population.

Among the 200 mile runners, the researchers identified 20 sibling groups and several father-and-son pairs.

"While we could not determine the cause of death for the majority of runners, studies reporting on Tour de France cyclists and cohorts of Olympians (that include middle to long distance runners) suggest the longevity effects are primarily mediated by decreased rates of cardiovascular and cancer-related mortality," write Foulkes and colleagues.

The team says the result of its analysis "reiterates the benefits of exercise on the lifespan, even at the levels of training required for elite performance."

The study appeared in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

An earlier version of this article was published in May 2024.