A new study has revealed that playing a racket sport such as tennis or squash can help you live longer. A team of international scientists identified which sports are linked to significantly lower risks of death and presented the evidence in a new study.
The team from the University of Oxford determined that racket sports, swimming, aerobics, and cycling are the best sports and activities for a longer, healthier lifespan.
Apart from this, their findings suggest that those who regularly play racket sports like tennis, badminton, and squash will have significantly lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases like stroke.
During this study, scientists examined 80,000 adults across the United Kingdom who participated in national health surveys beginning 1994 to 2008.
The participants have an average age of 52 and were asked about how much physical activity they have done in the past few months. Results revealed that 44 percent of the participants were only receiving the recommended amount of exercise per week.
For a period of nine years, the researchers monitored the health of these participants. Upon completing this massive survey, 8,790 of them had died in nine years where 1,909 cases are caused by cardiovascular diseases.
The researchers were able to take into account the most influential factors that determine the lifespan average of 52 and then identified which sport or exercise appeared to be the most beneficial.
Those who regularly play a racket sport possessed a 47 percent lower chance of death as opposed to those who do not play any sport, 28 percent in swimmers, 27 percent for those who take aerobic classes, and 15 percent among cyclists.
However, there were no benefits of lower risk of death for those who went jogging regularly, or those who played football or rugby.
When it comes to lower risk of heart disease and stroke, researchers revealed that those who play racket sports have a 56 percent lower risk, 41 percent for swimmers, and 36 percent for those who participated in aerobics, as opposed to those who did not play any sports.
This new study about the benefits of playing sports was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.