Malaysians are no stranger to badminton. With world class player such as Datuk Lee Chong Wei hailing from Malaysia, it came as no surprise that most Malaysians are familiar with the popular sport.
Source | Lee Chong Wei
Playing badminton comes with multiple benefits. The most noteworthy one is the fact that playing badminton regularly can help us live longer, according to NextShark via a new study. The same applies for other racket sports such as tennis and squash.
The study also found that those who participated in the sport had a much lower chance of dying to heart diseases and stroke.
For those who jog, cycle and play rugby, the study showed that the sport did not do any significant change to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.
The figures are concluded by a study that was published by British Journal of Sports Medicine which had a whopping 80,000 participants that joined in the survey. Each of the participant averaged the age of 52 and were asked how much physical activities they’ve done in the preceding 4 weeks. Less than 44% of those surveyed were getting sufficient exercise.
The participants were then tracked for an average of 9 years, during which time 8,790 of them died from various causes including 1,909 from cardiovascular diseases.
The risk of death for those who played badminton was 47% lower than those who shunned any exercise. It was 28% lower for swimmers, 24% lower for those who regularly attend aerobic classes and 15% for those who regularly cycle, compare to those who don’t play these sports.
When it comes to the risk of heart disease and stroke, badminton players have an astonishing 56% lower risk of heart disease and stroke, 41% for swimmers and aerobics participant have 36% lower risk compare to those that don’t participate on any sports. However cycling, running or jogging were not associated with a reduced risk of death from heart disease.
“Our findings indicate that it’s not only how much and how often, but also what type of exercise you do that seems to make the difference.”
– Senior author Associate Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis
“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”, the researchers stated.
So moral of the story? Play more badminton lah!
