Vox’s story competently compares the risks and benefits of walking vs. running, using multiple high-quality studies as the basis for its conclusions. In particular, the story does a great job quantifying the potential risks of running and of comparing the likelihood of injury from running to those for walking.
The United States is facing an epidemic of overweight and obesity, with more than one-third of U.S. adults now qualifying as obese. Increasing the amount of exercise we get can play a major role in reducing overweight and obesity, and both running and walking are popular exercise activities. This story will help people make an informed choice as to which might benefit them better.
According to Nielsen Scarborough data from Spring 2016, more than 64 million Americans reported running or jogging for exercise, and the CDC estimates that more than 145 million U.S. adults include walking as part of their exercise routine.
The story does not mention costs, but both walking and running are inexpensive and widely accessible, so we’ll rate this N/A.
However, cost does play a role here, albeit minor, so we think the story would have been stronger if it had included a couple points: Most running experts acknowledge that wearing cheap (often lower-quality) running shoes increases the likelihood of injury, and even those who are walking for exercise need shoes that provide good arch and ankle support. Also, many people do not live in neighborhoods conducive to outdoor exercise (from high traffic and/or pollution, or safety issues), and end up spending money at a gym or on buying a treadmill.
This was a tough call–the story does an impressive job of discussing various benefits of both walking and running and of comparing the health benefits of the two types of exercise. Yet, they were very general takeaways, and we wanted to know more specifics. For example:
Even five to 10 minutes per day of jogging at around 6 miles per hour can reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular disease and other causes.
We wondered by how much does it reduce the risk of death from heart disease?
The story does a very good job of quantifying the potential risks of running and of comparing the likelihood of injury from running to those for walking.
The writer demonstrates an appreciation of the quality of the evidence, noting that she began by looking for randomized control trials and systematic reviews, which are the highest-quality studies. Not every study to which the story links appears to have been a randomized control trial or a systematic review, but all were high-quality studies.
The story avoids disease-mongering. It seems to have been targeted to audiences who already understand the health risks of inactivity, but nonetheless, a sentence or two about the danger of a sedentary lifestyle would have been of benefit.
The story includes independent sources, and there were no potential conflicts of interests that we could detect.
The point of the story is to compare the health benefits and risks of walking versus running, and it does that effectively.
While it’s certainly true that some people in the United States might have a harder time finding space places to run or walk, it’s reasonable to argue that both activities are available to most everyone.
Humans have been walking and running for our entire history on the planet, and the story doesn’t claim to be discussing any new approach.
The story is not reliant on a news release. The author clearly put significant time and effort into doing the background research needed to answer the question she began with, which was what the scientific research says about the benefits and risks of walking versus running for exercise.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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