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Playing Golf Leads to Longer Lifespan
By
Michael A. Piekarz
Staff Writer
Golf
is not only a relaxing way to spend a day in the sun — it might
just be the ticket to a longer life, according to a study from Sweden’s
Karolinska Institutet.
Researchers at the university found that the death rate for golfers is 40 percent
lower than for other people of the same age, sex and socioeconomic status.
And golfers with a lower handicap can expect the longest lives. The 2008 study
was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
Researchers used data from over 300,000 Swedish golfers and found that playing
golf has positive health effects as part of a university study on physical activity
and its effects on health and premature death.
The focus of the researchers was on how to separate the effects of physical activity
from the effects of other lifestyle factors, and from genetic factors that could
simultaneously affect both the level of physical activity and health.
Professor Anders Ahlbom, who led the study with Bahman Farahmand, is not surprised
at the results, because he believes there are several aspects of the golf game
that are beneficial to good health.
“A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours [and] walking
at a fast pace for six to seven kilometers, something which is known to be good
for the health,” Ahlbom explained. “People play golf into old age,
and there are also positive social and psychological aspects to the game that
can be of help.”
While the study does not specifically rule out other factors, such as a generally
healthy lifestyle (which can be behind the lower death rate observed amongst
golfers), researchers suggest that playing the game itself has a significant
impact on people’s good health.
The study found the beneficial effects were greater for golfers from blue collar
professions than for those from white collar professions. The lowest mortality
rates were found in the group of players with the lowest handicap.
Lower golf score handicaps are an indication that the golfer is more skilled.
The tie-in between a low handicap and decreased mortality did not surprise researchers.
“Maintaining a low handicap involves playing a lot, so this supports the
idea that it is largely the game itself that is good for the health,” stated
Ahlbom.
The research acknowledged that the specific health benefits achieved from different
forms and patterns of leisure-time physical activity had not been established
when it analyzed the Swedish Golf Federation’s membership registry and
the nationwide Mortality Registry.
Standardized mortality ratios with stratification for age, sex and socioeconomic
status were used as the methods to determine the differences in mortality for
those studied.
The database included 300,818 golfers, and the total number of deaths was 1053.
The mortality reduction was observed in men and women in all age groups and in
all socioeconomic categories.
The study stated that while it is uncertain that the 40 percent decreased mortality
rates were explained by the physical activity associated with playing golf, but
that most likely this is part of the explanation.
“To put the observed mortality reduction in context, it may be noted that
a 40 percent reduction of mortality rates corresponds to an increase in life
expectancy of about five years,” the researchers concluded.
This page and its contents ©2009
Metropolitan News Company, Inc.
