Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here you might hear it. In the gym, a burly weightlifter mutters that they could bench three of the guys on the treadmills. A guy on a treadmill snickers that the weightlifter could never catch him. A soccer player says that thinking on your feed and anticipating where the ball will go takes much more skill than just doing the same thing over and over, and that she's
the most agile person in the room. Athletics demands self discipline, and each sport develops different skills and strengths and the people who play them, And of course getting some kind of exercise is important for our health. But are all sports created equal when it comes to health benefits? And are some sports better at keeping the grim reaper at bay? One of the most significant scientific studies focused on this question came out of Scandinavia back in the nineteen nineties.
Researchers divided two thousand, six hundred and thirteen male finish elite athletes in three groups. Endurance athletes like long distance runners and cross country skiers, Power athletes like boxers, wrestlers, and weightlifters, and then a mixed group of sprinters and team athletes like soccer, ice hockey, or basketball players. The researchers then compared those athletes to oney seven hundred and
twelve finished men who were not competitive athletes. The power athletes group lived an average of one point six years longer than the non athletes. Team athletes lived four years longer, and endurance athletes lived five point seven years longer. Let's consider what sets endurance sports apart. In another study, researchers looked at lifespan and VO two max, which is the maximum volume of oxygen that your body can take in
during exercise. Sports requiring a high VO two max make you breed the hardest, such as running or biking, as your body tries to get precious oxygen to your muscles. The study showed that elite athletes had a lower chance of dying at a given age the non athletes, but how much lower depended on their VO two max. Indurance athletes had a forty three percent lower chance of dying
at a given age than non athletes. Team athletes had thirty three percent less risk, while power athletes whose sports don't require a high VO two max only had ten percent less risk than non athletes. These studies don't cover every angle, though. The scientists gathered information about the cause of death and age of each participant, but they didn't consider what the participants had done after they stopped competing in sports. Competitive athletes are generally young. The average age
of NFL players is just twenty seven. Studies have shown that staying active throughout your entire life is a very big deal when it comes to your health. So the Dungeons and Dragons nerd who takes up running after college and keeps at it will probably live longer than the high school football hero who hangs up his cleets and hits the recliner once his glory days are over. Not that all D and D nerds are out of shape, saying and don't count team sports and resistance training out either.
They may not boost longevity quite as much as endurance sports, but they are an important part of the picture. Team sports can teach us about discipline, camaraderie, and sportsmanship. Resistance training helps reduce injuries and the muscle wasting that can happen with aging, which reduces strength, coordination, and quality of life. During a person's golden years. Resistance training also strengthens bones
for a healthy life. Varying your workout will help keep you from getting bored and let you tap into the unique benefits of different types of exercise. However, some sports can actually present a threat to longevity. A sports injuries can require major treatment and lead to lifelong pain for some athletes. For example, repetitive motion injuries are a serious risk in some sports and can have life changing consequences.
The scientists in England found that professional soccer players are ten times more likely to develop arthritis in the hip than the general public. Surprisingly, most of the players who developed arthritis didn't realize that they were injuring their hips.
The arthritis was caused by repetitive motion. Many professional soccer players require total hip replacements in their thirties or forties, which is much younger than most hyperplacement patients in the general population, which covers around the age of sixty five. Another significant danger in some sports is traumatic brain injury, which can be disabling or even life threatening, even if the person is wearing a helmet. Even mild concussions can
cause memory problems, confusion, depression, and personality changes. And medical experts still don't know the long term effects of repeated mild concussions. The college football players with the history of three or more concussions are three times more likely to experience another concussion than their teammates, so repeated concussions are
a concern for football players. Besides injuries, some athletes do things to their bodies that can cause more harm than good, such as using performance enhancing drugs or trying to gain their weight upper don too quickly or too much. All sports have their own benefits and risks. It's important to play safely, try cross training, and reap the benefits of different kinds of exercise. If old injuries limit your options, take up a low impact sport like swimming or biking.
The key is to make exercise a regular part of your life, all of it for a longer and healthier one. Today's episode is based on the article Which Athletes lived Longest on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Melissa Sandoval. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows,