Kuala Lumpur: A new study published by British Journal of Sports Medicine found out that the risk of death from any cause was 47% lower for those who played racket sports such as badminton, tennis, or squash; for swimming it was 28 per cent lower, for people who attend aerobics class regularly was 27 per cent lower while for cyclists it was 15 per cent lower.
The study was based on The Health Survey for England (HSE) and the Scottish Health Survey (SHeS) that conducted between 1994 and 2008. It examined 80,306 adults over 30 to investigate the linkage between participation in different ‘exercise disciplines’ and death. The study has shown that these four sports offered great lifesaving benefits compared to running jogging, football and rugby.
Co-author of the study, Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis at the University of Sydney said that: “Participation in different sport could have different impact for your health.”
“Our studies indicate that it’s not only how much and how often, but also what type of exercise you do that would make the difference.”
The publication also mentioned that people who play badminton, tennis or squash have 56% lower risk of suffering death from heart disease and stroke, while swimmers had a 41% lower risk and aerobics participants had a 36% lower risk compared with those who didn’t play these sports.
However, some medical expert in USA warned that the findings of the study should be taken with skepticism because of the way in which data was gathered and analyzed. An American cardiologist said he will advise his patients to continue with running, even if the study showed that jogging is not among the favorite sports for protecting from heart disease.
