When I was in secondary school, the standard for completing a cross country MacRitchie Reservoir run of about 4.8km was 30 minutes.

Back in 1975 at the Officer Cadet School (OCS), we routinely ran 5km under 30 minutes and 10km under 60 minutes while encumbered by boots and wearing skeletal battle order dressing.

While the best runners in school and the OCS routinely beat the standards with contemptuous ease, I could still pass with ample practice, hampered even with the blood condition Thalassaemia.

Perhaps, the keywords here are 'ample practice'.

Having done more than my fair share of 2.4km runs during my reservist duty, I unreservedly state that a shorter run albeit at a marginally faster pace (do not use the gold standard here, use the passing standard which entails nothing more than a jog above brisk walking pace) is far less taxing than a longer one if stamina were to be tested with a meaningful standard that is not too compromisingly lax.

Sudden death in apparently healthy young individuals is usually associated with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular complications, which appear as cataclysmic as they are unexpected despite the most well intentional of routine screenings.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that it can happen when the activity indulged in is no more innocuous than straining in the toilet or having a nightmare (presumably) during sleep.

All we can do to achieve the extrapolated longevity calculated for us by official actuaries in recent months is to maintain a healthy lifestyle while stringently controlling morbid factors as they arise by frequent checks.

A fair modicum of exercising, like in seeking to achieve the passing standard for the annual IPPT, is not only salutary to our health but entirely non deleterious to our aims.

Dr Yik Keng Yeong