Why tennis helps you live longer than most other sports

This interesting article was recently published in The Telegraph.

Thinking of taking up a new sport in 2020? Well make it tennis, if a Danish study is anything to go by. Researchers have found that playing tennis may help to lengthen your life by up to ten years. 

The research - called the Copenhagen City Heart Study - involved 20,000 people and looked at the heart and longevity benefits of various sports including tennis, badminton, football, running, swimming and cycling. “Surprisingly, we found that tennis players had the longest expected lifetime among the eight different sports,” said the researchers. 

They surmised that two traits of tennis may be behind their findings - the social aspect of the sport, along with the amount of HIIT (high intensity interval training) involved in a typical game. “Belonging to a group that meets regularly promotes a sense of support, trust, and commonality, which has been shown to contribute to a sense of wellbeing and improved long-term health,” said the study authors. They also noted that “short repeated intervals of higher intensity exercise appear to be superior to continuous moderate intensity physical activity for improving health outcomes.” 

Lastly, a Japanese study recently found that complex racquet sports, like tennis, ping pong, squash and badminton, yield far greater cognitive benefits than exercises like running or cycling. 

So there you have it. Dust off one of your racquets in the new year to enjoy a healthier, brighter 2020.