Don’t run less hard. Don’t run less often. Don’t run less distance. And don’t be persuaded by underpowered medical studies — a habit that really could harm your health.

I say this in response to a recent study suggesting that too much strenuous jogging shortens your life. The conclusions, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, have received wide attention this week.

In fact, the main thing the study shows is that small samples yield unreliable estimates that cannot be reliably discerned from the effects of chance. And the main thing the reaction shows is that perhaps we are all a bit too quick to believe medical studies that tell us what we want to hear.

The study doesn’t change what the weight of the evidence shows: Most Americans need to worry about exercising too little, not too much, and it’s not clear that any substantial number of people are harming their health by running too much.