See you at the court

See you at the court Grab a racquet and grow old "If you want to stave off death for as long as possible, you might want to reach for a tennis racquet," The Guardian reports. A study looking at the impact of individual sports on mortality found racquet sports reduced the risk of death by around 47%.

Researchers also found reduced risks of death for people who took part in cycling, swimming and aerobics.

They didn''t find such effects for people who took part in rugby, football or running – although this unexpected finding may be explained by the low number of deaths, which may have skewed the statistics. The smaller the data set, the bigger the chance of the data being influenced by chance.

What is clear from the study is that any sort of regular physical activity is likely to help us stay healthier and live longer.

The study was carried out by researchers from the UKK Institute in Finland, University of Edinburgh, University of Oxford, Loughborough University and University of Exeter in the UK, Victoria University and University of Sydney in Australia, and University of Graz in Austria. It was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. Most of the UK media reported that tennis and badminton were the "best" exercise, because people participating in these sports had the biggest reductions in risk of death compared to people not taking part.

THE GUARDIAN