Regularly playing squash could help stave off death the longest, a study suggests.
Scientists have narrowed down the sports and types of exercise that are linked to significantly lower odds of dying before those who do not do those activities.
Racket sports, swimming, aerobics and cycling seem to be the best for prolonging life, the research concluded.
Those who enjoy swimming, aerobics and racket sports such as squash, badminton and tennis, also have a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases such as strokes.
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, examined information on more than 80,000 adults across England and Scotland who took part in national health surveys between 1994 and 2008.
In each of the surveys participants, who had an average age of 52, were quizzed about what type of physical activity – and how much of it – they had done in the preceding months.
Only 44 per cent were getting the recommended amount of weekly exercise.
Researchers also tracked participants’ survival for an average of nine years following completion of the survey – 8,790 of them died from all causes including 1,909 from cardiovascular diseases.
After taking into account influential factors, the authors of the paper identified which sport or exercise seemed to be the most beneficial.
Compared with the participants who said they had not done a given sport, they found that risk of death from any cause was 47 per cent lower among those who played racket sports; 28 per cent lower among swimmers; 27 per cent lower among those who took part in aerobics classes; and 15 per cent lower among cyclists.
Physical activity is more effective in reducing the risk of heart disease than any drug
No such associations were seen for runners or joggers and those who played football or rugby.
When the researchers looked at risk of death from heart disease and stroke, they found that playing racket sports was associated with a 56 per cent lower risk, swimmers had a 41 per cent lower risk and aerobics participants had a 36 per cent lower risk compared with those who did not participate in these sports.
The researchers did find a 43 per cent reduced risk of death from all causes and a 45 per cent reduced risk from cardiovascular disease among runners and joggers when compared with those who did not run or jog, but this advantage was not deemed significant when influential factors were taken into account.
They cautioned that the impact of running and jogging might have been underestimated. Previous studies that have highlighted the benefits of these activities had longer recall periods, the authors said.
And very few of the participants took part in football or rugby which could explain the apparent low impact of these activities, they added.
“We found robust associations between participation in certain types of sport and exercise and mortality, indicating substantial reductions in all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality for swimming, racquet sports and aerobics and in all-cause mortality for cycling,” wrote the researchers, from Australia, Finland and Oxford University.
“The growing evidence should support the sport community to develop and promote health-enhancing sport programmes to reach more people and contribute to greater proportion of population meeting the physical activity guidelines for health.”
Consultant cardiologist Tim Chico, who is also a reader in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Sheffield, said: “This study must not be misinterpreted as showing that running and football do not protect against heart disease.
“In this study both runners and footballers had a lower rate of death from heart disease.
“Although this was not ‘statistically significant’, many other studies have found that runners live longer and suffer less heart disease.
“This study relied on a single questionnaire to determine what amount and type of physical activity people were engaged in and, although this is a standard approach to obtain information from many thousands of people – in whom it is impractical to measure activity more accurately – this is unreliable.
“Studies that actually measure the amount of activity being performed usually show even greater benefits of exercise because they weed out people who overestimate or exaggerate how active they are.”
He added: “In the meantime, I will continue to tell my patients that regular physical activity – including running – is more effective in reducing their risk of heart disease than any drug I can prescribe.”