According to Professor Merlin Thomas, author of The Longevity List, the average adult takes 7500 steps each day. Even worse, the sedentary desk bound adult only takes 2000 steps per day. The World Health Organisation recommends a minimum daily goal of 10,000 steps per day to maintain your health, with the International Journal of Obesity recommending 15,000 per day.
Today’s ‘sedentary lifestyle’ is commonly referred to as the new tobacco. Women are also more at risk of the negative health impacts of an inactive lifestyle. Thomas states, “Women who are inactive and sitting for more than six hours a day have about twice the risk of dying in a given period as women who are active, and sit for less than 3 hours“.
Counting steps aside, The British Journal of Sports Medicine published the results of a report analysing the sports that can help extend your life beyond the recommended daily steps. The study examined 80,000 adults over a 9 year period. The results? The best sports to increase your life span are:
- cycling (15% lower risk of death)
- swimming (28% lower risk of death)
- racquet sports (47% lower risk of death)
Why? The above sports can be performed more consistently, without the requirement of a full ‘team’ and they do not have an ‘off season’. You may also be asking, why are racquet sports even more superior than cycling and swimming? Physical therapist and personal trainer with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Outpatient Center, Vijay A. Daryanani, states in a Harvard Health Publishing article:
“Most of our lives are spent moving forward, and that includes our exercise. Racquet sports force you to move both back and forth and side to side. This helps improve balance and weight shifting, which can lower your risk of falls. This kind of activity also exercises your mind. From a cognitive standpoint, it sharpens your planning and decision-making skills, as you must constantly anticipate and execute your next shot.”
According to the Harvard article, another powerful element of your daily exercise is combining it with a social group. “A 2012 study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that loneliness was associated with functional decline and an increased risk of death among adults older than age 60.”
Your homework? As a bare minimum, you should be performing ‘moderate’ exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, 3 – 5 days per week. If you already have a good base fitness and want a significant improvement in your long term health, you should aim for 30 – 60 minutes of moderate exercise daily. Daily exercise reduces stress, balances your hormones, boosts your metabolism, improves cardiovascular health, burns excess fat, stimulates the production of dopamine & serotonin (your feel good hormones), lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety, increases muscle mass… just to name a few!!!
How do I go to get started with a new racquet sport?
- Head down to a good sports store to purchase a Badminton set for the backyard or a ping pong table for the garage.
- Book in for some cardio tennis at your local tennis club. We love Victorian Tennis Academy at Union Street, Armadale or SMART Tennis at Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club.