Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Regarding the recent studies linking endurance training to heart disease

Have you read these articles? They gave me quite a scare. Calling this research a revelation would be way to generous to the people involved. It's simply a reaffirmation of knowledge most sane individuals hold to be common sense: push your body too hard and it will push back... what did strike me as a revelation was just how LITTLE exercise is considered a "safe upper limit". Most of the articles describing these studies that I've read said that after about 30 minutes to 1 hour of exercise per day you start having "diminished returns", meaning the exercise you are engaging in is actually doing more harm to your body than good. I'm still having trouble getting my head around this "safe upper limit" of 30 minutes to 1 hour per day. That's basically my warmup. :(

The articles didn't answer many of the questions they naturally encouraged. Why only 30 minutes to an hour? Does this apply to hard-core running only or does it also apply to walking? What happens if you lose track of time and exercise for an hour and thirty minutes? An hour and 10 minutes? An hour and 5 seconds? Should you start saving money for future health bills?

I need to have these questions answered because I am a bit of a hypochondriac.

I need to have these questions answered because I am a bit of a hypochondriac.

Exactly how many threads and forums are you going to raise this issue in?

These studies have been discussed at length in various of our forums. If you use the search function you will be able to find those discussions, and add to them if you wish, rather than starting multiple new and redundant conversations about them

For the record, the studies related to athletes undertaking extreme endurance sports. Professional cyclists doing huge mileages, ironman triathletes, multiple marathon runners. They have no relevance to most amateur cyclists. And even when dealing with the extremes, the authors acknowlEdged that lifetime vigorous exercisers typically lived longer, and retained good health longer, than others in the population.

the study was discussed here. (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/826126-Health-Effects-of-Endurance-Sports) About 20 posts down from this one
Closing