Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here you might hear it. In the gym,
Speaker 1: a burly weightlifter mutters that they could bench three of
Speaker 1: the guys on the treadmills. A guy on a treadmill
Speaker 1: snickers that the weightlifter could never catch him. A soccer
Speaker 1: player says that thinking on your feed and anticipating where
Speaker 1: the ball will go takes much more skill than just
Speaker 1: doing the same thing over and over, and that she's
Speaker 1: the most agile person in the room. Athletics demands self discipline,
Speaker 1: and each sport develops different skills and strengths and the
Speaker 1: people who play them, And of course getting some kind
Speaker 1: of exercise is important for our health. But are all
Speaker 1: sports created equal when it comes to health benefits? And
Speaker 1: are some sports better at keeping the grim reaper at bay?
Speaker 1: One of the most significant scientific studies focused on this
Speaker 1: question came out of Scandinavia back in the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 1: Researchers divided two thousand, six hundred and thirteen male finish
Speaker 1: elite athletes in three groups. Endurance athletes like long distance
Speaker 1: runners and cross country skiers, Power athletes like boxers, wrestlers,
Speaker 1: and weightlifters, and then a mixed group of sprinters and
Speaker 1: team athletes like soccer, ice hockey, or basketball players. The
Speaker 1: researchers then compared those athletes to oney seven hundred and
Speaker 1: twelve finished men who were not competitive athletes. The power
Speaker 1: athletes group lived an average of one point six years
Speaker 1: longer than the non athletes. Team athletes lived four years longer,
Speaker 1: and endurance athletes lived five point seven years longer. Let's
Speaker 1: consider what sets endurance sports apart. In another study, researchers
Speaker 1: looked at lifespan and VO two max, which is the
Speaker 1: maximum volume of oxygen that your body can take in
Speaker 1: during exercise. Sports requiring a high VO two max make
Speaker 1: you breed the hardest, such as running or biking, as
Speaker 1: your body tries to get precious oxygen to your muscles.
Speaker 1: The study showed that elite athletes had a lower chance
Speaker 1: of dying at a given age the non athletes, but
Speaker 1: how much lower depended on their VO two max. Indurance
Speaker 1: athletes had a forty three percent lower chance of dying
Speaker 1: at a given age than non athletes. Team athletes had
Speaker 1: thirty three percent less risk, while power athletes whose sports
Speaker 1: don't require a high VO two max only had ten
Speaker 1: percent less risk than non athletes. These studies don't cover
Speaker 1: every angle, though. The scientists gathered information about the cause
Speaker 1: of death and age of each participant, but they didn't
Speaker 1: consider what the participants had done after they stopped competing
Speaker 1: in sports. Competitive athletes are generally young. The average age
Speaker 1: of NFL players is just twenty seven. Studies have shown
Speaker 1: that staying active throughout your entire life is a very
Speaker 1: big deal when it comes to your health. So the
Speaker 1: Dungeons and Dragons nerd who takes up running after college
Speaker 1: and keeps at it will probably live longer than the
Speaker 1: high school football hero who hangs up his cleets and
Speaker 1: hits the recliner once his glory days are over. Not
Speaker 1: that all D and D nerds are out of shape,
Speaker 1: saying and don't count team sports and resistance training out either.
Speaker 1: They may not boost longevity quite as much as endurance sports,
Speaker 1: but they are an important part of the picture. Team
Speaker 1: sports can teach us about discipline, camaraderie, and sportsmanship. Resistance
Speaker 1: training helps reduce injuries and the muscle wasting that can
Speaker 1: happen with aging, which reduces strength, coordination, and quality of life.
Speaker 1: During a person's golden years. Resistance training also strengthens bones
Speaker 1: for a healthy life. Varying your workout will help keep
Speaker 1: you from getting bored and let you tap into the
Speaker 1: unique benefits of different types of exercise. However, some sports
Speaker 1: can actually present a threat to longevity. A sports injuries
Speaker 1: can require major treatment and lead to lifelong pain for
Speaker 1: some athletes. For example, repetitive motion injuries are a serious
Speaker 1: risk in some sports and can have life changing consequences.
Speaker 1: The scientists in England found that professional soccer players are
Speaker 1: ten times more likely to develop arthritis in the hip
Speaker 1: than the general public. Surprisingly, most of the players who
Speaker 1: developed arthritis didn't realize that they were injuring their hips.
Speaker 1: The arthritis was caused by repetitive motion. Many professional soccer
Speaker 1: players require total hip replacements in their thirties or forties,
Speaker 1: which is much younger than most hyperplacement patients in the
Speaker 1: general population, which covers around the age of sixty five.
Speaker 1: Another significant danger in some sports is traumatic brain injury,
Speaker 1: which can be disabling or even life threatening, even if
Speaker 1: the person is wearing a helmet. Even mild concussions can
Speaker 1: cause memory problems, confusion, depression, and personality changes. And medical
Speaker 1: experts still don't know the long term effects of repeated
Speaker 1: mild concussions. The college football players with the history of
Speaker 1: three or more concussions are three times more likely to
Speaker 1: experience another concussion than their teammates, so repeated concussions are
Speaker 1: a concern for football players. Besides injuries, some athletes do
Speaker 1: things to their bodies that can cause more harm than good,
Speaker 1: such as using performance enhancing drugs or trying to gain
Speaker 1: their weight upper don too quickly or too much. All
Speaker 1: sports have their own benefits and risks. It's important to
Speaker 1: play safely, try cross training, and reap the benefits of
Speaker 1: different kinds of exercise. If old injuries limit your options,
Speaker 1: take up a low impact sport like swimming or biking.
Speaker 1: The key is to make exercise a regular part of
Speaker 1: your life, all of it for a longer and healthier one.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article Which Athletes lived
Speaker 1: Longest on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Melissa Sandoval.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.
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