It’s estimated that Roger Federer made $93 million in the 12 months leading up to June 1 of this year, so there’s some motivation to take up tennis at a young age.

Serena Williams cracked a cool $29,2 million during the same period, in case you were wondering.

Picking up a racquet isn’t just about raking in the dough, however, because there are also a number of tangible health benefits associated with tennis.

The Guardian has picked five ‘easy-to-access’ exercises that greatly reduce the risk of heart disease, and we’ll start with tennis:

Scientists attempting to find the health benefits of different sports found that regular tennis and badminton sessions reduce the risk of death at any given age by 47%. The study, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, gathered responses from over 80,000 adults aged 30 and over, through surveys taken between 1994 and 2008.

Just to reiterate – regular tennis sessions (with a side dose of badminton) reduce the risk of death at any age by almost half. That’s pretty astounding, actually.

Also worth dabbling in – running:

Last week, research published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that running can reduce the risk of early death regardless of how long or at what speed you run…The authors reported that any amount of running, even just once a week, is better than no running at all.

In other words, even if you’re only going to amble along, huffing and puffing, give it a bash. Throw in a Cheslin sidestep, too, just to keep people on their toes.

Swimming is also one of the exercise Big Five:

Swimmers were found to have a 28% lower risk of early death and a 41% lower risk of death as a result of stroke or heart disease, according to a 2017 study by Swim England. Over 80,000 people took part. The report also said swimming is a cost-effective, safe and viable exercise for people of all ages, it helps older people stay mentally and physically fit and can help children develop physical, cognitive and social skills through swimming lessons.

You get bonus health points if you swim whilst wearing Faf de Klerk-style budgie smugglers.

(That has yet to be proven in an actual study, but I’m sticking to my guns.)

To finish, the much-maligned yoga:

In addition to improving strength, breathing and flexibility, yoga has been found to reduce risk factors for heart disease, such as high body mass index, cholesterol and blood pressure. A study by the American College of Cardiology found that people combining yoga practice and aerobic exercise, such as running or swimming, saw double the reduction in high BMI, cholesterol levels and blood pressure in comparison with people who were taking part in just one or the other exercise.

Just remember to listen to your body, or else you can end up doing more damage than good.

There you have it – five simple exercises, that are easy enough to work into your day to day life, and you’ll be in pretty decent nick.

[source:guardian]