STILL SWINGING

The best sports for longevity

- SIMAR BAJAJ

Regular exercise is one of the most effective ways to lengthen your life.

Research consistently shows that physical activity is linked to lower risk of cancer, depression, dementia, Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Federal guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, along with two days of muscle-strengthening activities. But the payoff starts much earlier. Even four to five minutes of vigorous physical activity every day has been linked to longevity benefits.

“Some is good — more is better,” said Steven Moore, a metabolic epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute.

While staying active is critical, playing sports adds a social aspect and extra cognitive demands to exercising. And research suggests that some sports may offer a bigger longevity boost than others.

Walking may be America’s go-to activity, but several studies have highlighted the benefits of tennis for longevity.

One study from Denmark found that tennis players lived almost 10 years longer than their sedentary peers and longer than soccer players, swimmers and the other recreational athletes included in the analysis.

Other research from Britain and the United States followed people for about a decade and found that playing racquet sports was linked to a lower risk of death during the followup period than any other sport or form of exercise studied.

These findings don’t prove that tennis causes people to live longer, said Emmanuel Stamatakis, an epidemiologist at Australia’s University of Sydney and the senior author of the British study, since the studies weren't designed to tease out why any one sport was particularly beneficial.