Racket Sports Could Add 10 Years to Your Life -- The Science Is In
A landmark 25-year study following 8,577 people found racket sport players live nearly 10 years longer than sedentary individuals. Table tennis shares all the same longevity mechanisms. Here is what the data shows.
Racket Sports Could Add 10 Years to Your Life
The Copenhagen City Heart Study is one of the most remarkable pieces of sports science ever published. Starting in 1991, researchers followed 8,577 people for up to 25 years, tracking their leisure-time physical activities and survival outcomes. The results, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings in 2018, were striking.
The Numbers
The study tracked specific sports and measured how many extra years of life each added compared to a sedentary lifestyle. Racket sports dominated the list:
| Sport Type | Extra Years of Life |
|---|---|
| Racket sports (tennis, badminton) | +6.2 to +9.7 years |
| Soccer | +4.7 years |
| Cycling | +3.7 years |
| Swimming | +3.4 years |
| Jogging | +3.2 years |
| Gym workouts | +1.5 years |
The study did not track table tennis separately. But tennis delivered roughly three times the longevity benefit of jogging. Let that sink in.
Why Racket Sports Dominate
Dr. Peter Schnohr, the study’s lead author, attributes the outsized benefit to three factors that racket sports uniquely combine:
- Interval-style cardiovascular demand — natural HIIT patterns of sprint, stop, sprint
- Heavy cognitive load — tracking fast-moving objects, reading opponents, choosing shots in milliseconds
- Built-in social scaffolding — you need a partner, which creates accountability and long-term adherence
The social component may be the secret sauce. People who play racket sports together show up week after week, year after year. Joggers and gym-goers quit at much higher rates.
Why Table Tennis Shares These Benefits
Table tennis shares all three of these core mechanisms with tennis, with some distinct advantages:
- Lower injury risk (smaller court, lighter ball, no overhand serving)
- Minimal space and cost (a table fits in a garage or basement)
- Year-round accessibility (indoor sport)
- Playable at every fitness level (including from a wheelchair)
- Even faster cognitive demand (ball speed relative to court size means quicker reactions than tennis)
A separate study of 80,306 British adults published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Oja et al., 2017) grouped all racket sports together and found participants were 47% less likely to die from any cause and 56% less likely to die from cardiovascular disease compared to those who did no sport. That study included table tennis.
The Takeaway
If you could only choose one activity for longevity, the science points to racket sports. And if you want the cognitive and social benefits of a racket sport with the lowest barrier to entry, table tennis is hard to beat.
The data is not theoretical. It comes from decades of observation across tens of thousands of real people.
