The health benefits of exercise are known to all; it reduces the risk of heart disease and extends lifespan. New research sets out to understand, in the world of sports, which ones are best for staving off illness.

Share on Pinterest All sports are healthful, but which sport is the most healthful?

A raft of studies over the last few decades has unequivocally shown that physical activity benefits health.

Sports participation has been shown to decrease mortality in middle-aged and older individuals.

In particular, vigorous sporting activity is considered to hold the most benefits. However, to date, exactly which activities are best for longevity has not been thoroughly investigated.

Previous studies addressing the question have lacked strength.

Research, published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, set out to examine the relationship between sports and mortality (including cardiovascular-based mortality).

They designed their study to investigate which types of sporting activity provided the strongest beneficial effect.

Taking data from 11 annual health surveys for England and Scotland between 1994-2008, the team used data from 80,306 adults with an average age of 52. Each participant was asked which activities they had carried out in the previous 4 weeks, and whether the activity had been intense enough to make them sweaty and breathless.

The types of activities that were collected included chores, such as DIY and gardening. They also collated information about the types of sports they had been involved in. The six most popular were cycling; swimming; aerobics/keep fit/gymnastics/dance; running/jogging; football/rugby; and racquet sports – badminton/tennis/squash.

Overall, just 44 percent of respondents met the recommended levels of physical activity.

On average, each individual was tracked for 9 years. During that time, 8,790 died, and 1,909 of them died from heart disease or stroke.