Golf As Good As Running For Longevity

If the goal is to reduce the likelihood of death, an understandably desirable outcome, it matter less what exercise you do than whether you exercise or not. That’s the conclusion of researchers who looked at the longevity of people who competed in Olympic games from 1896 and 1936. HealthDay reports that the study revealed that athletes in sports with high cardiovascular intensity (such as cycling and rowing) or moderate intensity (such as gymnastics and tennis) had death rates similar to those in low-intensity sports such as golf or cricket. Unsurprisingly, it also showed that athletes in sports with high levels of physical contact — such as boxing, rugby and ice hockey — had an 11 percent higher risk of death than other athletes. A similar study, one that looked at the longevity of competitors in Olympic games from 1896 to 2000, found that being an Olympic athlete increased your life (above the norm for the rest of us) by 2.8 years. Not sure it’s worth the work. Read more from HealthDay.