Don’t forget all the evidence suggesting adult neurogenesis specifically from running.

As for VO2max, Levitt had a longevity researcher on his podcast who found that a high VO2max (used as a proxy measure) is causally related with higher impacts on 5 year all cause mortality than smoking. In the good direction. As in: being in shape reduces your risk of death more than smoking increases it.

Sauce: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/adding-ten-healthy-years-to...