The best sport for a longer life

Social interactions might play a part in augmenting the benefits of exercise.

People who played tennis, badminton or soccer tended to live longer than those who cycled, swam or jogged.

According to a new epidemiological study of Danish men and women, playing tennis and other sports that are social might add years to your life,

The study found that adults who reported frequently participating in tennis or other racket and team sports lived longer than people who were sedentary. But they also lived longer than people who took part in reliably healthy but often solitary activities such as jogging, swimming and cycling.

One widely publicized 2017 study of more than 80,000 British men and women also found that those who played racket sports tended to outlive those who jogged.

These results piqued the interest of a group of scientists. They previously had examined links between jogging and longevity and concluded that moderate amounts of moderately paced running led to greater gains in longevity than more-gentle or strenuous running.

In another study, the researchers zeroed in on 8,600 of the participants who had been part of the study for about 25 years.

The most obvious finding was that people who had reported almost never exercising were more likely than the active to have died in the ensuing decades.

The associations between particular activities and life span were more surprising.

Cycling was associated with a lengthier life span, adding an average of 3.7 years to riders’ lives, compared to sedentary Danes. Running likewise was associated with an extra 3.2 years of life.

But these gains were notably less than for playing tennis, which was linked to 9.7 added years of life, or badminton, which was linked to an extra 6.2 years, or soccer, which added almost 5 years to players’ lives.

“We know from other research that social support provides stress mitigation,” Dr. James O’Keefe, a study co-author and the director of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute at Saint Luke’s Health Center in Kansas City says.

“So being with other people, playing and interacting with them, as you do when you play games that require a partner or a team, probably has unique psychological and physiological effects,” he says, amplifying the benefits of the exercise.

How many steps per day we should walk?

Walking support joint health, bone health and more. In 2009, at the University of Tasmania, Australia, it was found that women who achieved greater than 7,500 steps per day had a 50% lower prevalence rate of depression than women who had less than 5,000 steps per day. This indicated the role of physical activity in decreasing the occurrence of depression in women.

In another study, in 2006, at the University of Tennessee, it was found that women who had between 5,000 and 7,500 steps per day had a substantially lower body mass index than the women, who accumulated less than 5,000 steps per day. This relationship indicates that increased physical fitness each day contributes to maintaining a healthier weight.

Then how many steps per day we should walk are enough?

The popular slogan “10,000 steps per day” originated in Japan, in the 1960s, when a pedometer was marketed with the name “manpo-kei”, which translates as “10,000 steps meter”.

Several studies have been published that support this presumption to be true, as there are several health benefits we can receive from actively reaching 10,000 steps per day.

In 2011, a study from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center recommended increasing steps per day by 2,000 for individuals with low levels of activity, who already had excess body fat. Those who do not need further improvement on their body composition may need optimal physical activity levels, such as 11,000 to 12,000 steps per day, to achieve greater benefits in their body composition. Catrine Tudor-Locke, Director of the Walking Behavior Laboratory at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center estimates that 150 minutes of a moderate fitness routine would equate to around 7,000 to 8,000 steps per day.

Normative data indicate that healthy adults typically take between 4,000 and 18,000 steps/day, and that 10,000 steps/day is reasonable despite some inter-individual variation. 100 steps/minute represents a reasonable floor value indicative of moderate intensity walking. Multiplying this cadence by 30 minutes (i.e., typical of a daily recommendation) produces a minimum of 3,000 steps that is best used as a heuristic (i.e., guiding) value, but these steps must be taken over and above habitual activity levels to be a true expression of free-living steps/day.

However, physical activity guidelines are typically expressed in terms of duration.The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has outlined certain guidelines for aerobic exercise that will produce health benefits. Aerobic activity for 60 minutes or more per day is recommended for children over 6 years of age. For healthy adults and older adults, it is advised that 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, such as brisk walking, should be undertaken every week. If an adult prefers more vigorous-intensity workouts, such as jogging or running, this should be limited to 75 minutes per week.

Each individual needs to find a method that is suitable to his or her physical activity level and lifestyle. Tudor-Locke also suggests that if you normally accumulate 5,000 steps per day, taking an extra 30-minute brisk walk would increase the number to about 8,000 steps. This simple addition to your daily routine can have a great impact on a more favorable body composition and your overall health.

Talking to a healthcare or fitness professional can help you determine how many steps you should be taking each day to best fit your lifestyle and physical health. Thus although aiming for around 10,000 steps a day can have great health benefits, this amount of steps may not be healthy for every individual.