Those who exercise live longer. Exercise strengthens our immune system, lowers high blood pressure and generally keeps the body going.
So far, jogging has been considered the predestined sport to keep fit into old age. But it turned out to be a mistake that only people who run regularly have a good chance of a long life. This was shown by a study in which 80,000 British men and women were examined for their health and the sports they practice. Accordingly, subjects who regularly played racquet sports such as tennis or badminton survived the joggers.
This result particularly surprised the international scientific group, which had previously dealt with the connection between jogging and lifespan in the Copenhagen City Heart study. The experts expanded their investigations to specifically examine the efficiency of the individual sports. Since they already had the information from over 8000 Danish men and women through the jogging study, they turned to this database.
Over a period of 25 years, the subjects had taken part in several health checks and indicated which types of sport they practiced regularly. The scientists examined the activity and lifespan of the study participants. However, they were quite astonished during the evaluation: The subjects who regularly played racket sports were clearly ahead. The hit list of types of exercise shown to prolong life ranked tennis ahead of badminton, soccer, cycling and jogging.
Source: Nachrichten
