According to a new epidemiological study from Denmark, playing tennis effectively prolongs life. The study showed that adults who reported having often played tennis or engaged in similar group sports activities lived longer than people who led sedentary lifestyle. Playing tennis is also usually longer lived than the people who do single sports activities such as Jogging, swimming and Cycling.
The results of the study raise interesting questions about the role of the factor of social interaction in the benefits of physical activity.
Previously, many studies have proved the benefits of physical activity, but until now it was not clear which sports are best for health. One British study in 2017, which analyzed data on 80,000 people in the UK, claimed that playing games with the racket lived longer than those who ran.
Such results aroused the interest of the international group of scientists. Previously, they studied the relationship between running and longevity, and came to the conclusion that moderate load when running mostly connected with the increase in life expectancy than low and high load.
For the new study, which was published this week in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, these same scientists have decided to expand my research and see how associated with lifetime sports.
For a start, they appealed to the same data resource, which they used to research Jogging. This database contained data of the Danes, answered questions about their lifestyle and about what sports they do and how often. The researchers then compared these data with data on death of study participants. One of the most obvious results of the study was that people who are not engaged in any sport, as a rule, live less. However, the most surprising results gave the study of the relationship between the lifetime and individual sports.
The most common sport among the Danes is Cycling and it was associated with 3.7 more years of life in comparison with the Danes, who prefer a sedentary lifestyle. Running, according to the study, was associated with an additional 3.2 years of life. However, even these types of physical activity are not comparable with the benefits of a game of tennis, which is associated with an additional a 9.7 years, badminton is 6.2 years and football for 5 years.
Data showed no influence of such factors as level of education, socio-economic status and age of the person involved in the sport. However, the authors admit that those who played tennis, lived longer because they were richer and they had more free time and money.
The study authors can’t explain the causal dependence of such different effects of different types of sports, as the study was only of a Supervisory nature. However, the authors admit that this is due to social interaction.
We know from other studies that social support mitigates stress. Thus, the game and interaction with other people, as it happens in games that require a partner or team probably has a unique psychological and physiological impact, says one of the study’s authors, Dr. James o’keefe (James OKeefe).
Dmitry Kolesnik