What’s the minimum (and maximum) exercise to improve health?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services currently recommends that adults engage in exercise at least 150 minutes per week. They also say that more exercise is even better, but that also suggests that doing somewhat less than 150 minutes per week might be better than nothing. If you’re an active runner, you might [...]

More on marathoning and heart disease

Sure, marathons are enjoying a tremendous rise in popularity, as the above video from the 2010 New York Marathon illustrates vividly, but is it possible that running too many marathons can be harmful to your health? This is the second of a pair of posts on the issue. On Friday, I discussed a 2009 report [...]

A complex picture on marathoning and heart disease

Jim Fixx was an overnight sensation as a recreational runner who had worked himself into shape and written a book about the health benefits of running. But when he died of a heart attack shortly after a run at age 43 52, he became the poster-child for the idea that running can actually be hazardous [...]