Reference
Peter Schnohr
The comparison of life expectancy across different sports, in which racket sports come out furthest ahead, is from the cohort he founded and co-authored.
Schnohr founded the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which followed 8,577 people for up to 25 years. Comparing each sport against sedentary participants, the adjusted gains in life expectancy were 9.7 years for tennis, 6.2 for badminton, 4.7 for football, 3.7 for cycling, 3.4 for swimming, 3.2 for jogging and 1.5 for health club activity. The authors suggest the sports involving another person account for the gap.
It is an observational cohort, and the ordering is the part to be careful with. People who play tennis differ from people who do not in income, health, free time and who they know, and no adjustment removes all of that. The study shows an association and offers an explanation for it. It does not show that taking up a racket adds years, and the authors do not claim it does.
Referenced work
- Various Leisure-Time Physical Activities Associated With Widely Divergent Life Expectancies: The Copenhagen City Heart Study (Mayo Clinic Proceedings, September 2018) reference
Elsewhere
Listed here because we name Peter Schnohr in our writing. We are not affiliated with them and this page is our summary, not theirs.