When you think of fitness, what do you see? 

Is it someone running in a park, someone doing yoga, someone lifting weights at the gym or someone playing sports? It may be time to think again.

Forbes magazine recently rated squash as the healthiest sport in the world. Now, who would’ve thought of that?

A study from Britain that looked at specific sports and their connections to mortality and cardiovascular death show that racquet sports decrease mortality by 47 per cent. 

That’s a bold statement so allow us to explain.

We all know sports are supposed to be healthy for us. Research shows us this by linking decreased rates of any kind of death in people who participate in certain sports. But they can also look specifically at deaths related to heart disease or “cardiovascular” deaths.  

Scientists were confused by the results of this because positive outcomes only came up sometimes and not consistently across the board. 

They wondered if it was because certain sports were better for your health and this study was born. This study looked at swimming, cycling, aerobics, squash, badminton/tennis, and football — which is soccer, since this is a British study. 

Now, you’ll note that all of these sports are traditionally thought of as “aerobic” activities, but the results of reducing your risk of death varied greatly amongst them.

Why?

The accepted theory is that it’s because racquet sports incorporate high intensity components of aerobic and anaerobic exercise since they’re “stop and go sports”. This change with your heart has been hypothesized to be more efficient in training it and preventing your risk of heart disease.

What does this study mean for you? All those interval training routines may truly be warranted. 

Your cardio doesn’t have to be painful or mindless activities that you dread. It can