Running vs cycling — which is better for longevity?

Running has the more direct, more robust evidence: a meta-analysis and a large cohort study both link running — even at low weekly volumes — to meaningfully lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Cycling's evidence base is real but noticeably thinner: a systematic review connects commuter cycling to lower all-cause and cancer mortality, and one long-running Swedish cohort links midlife cycling fitness to lower dementia risk decades later, but there simply isn't as much dedicated research isolating cycling the way there is for running. That's a gap in the literature, not necessarily a gap in effectiveness — cycling's lower joint impact is a real practical advantage the evidence base hasn't caught up to measuring as thoroughly yet.