Health Benefits of Playing Tennis

Tennis is a low-impact sport and does not depend on the strength of the player and can be played at any skill level. Many baby boomers play tennis either for fun, competitively, or simply to keep moving or to get some exercise. Whichever way you play tennis, it has great benefits for the body, as well as, the mind. Here are five of these benefits…

• Playing Tennis Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease – Heart disease occurs when the arteries become clogged, which can cause a heart attack or stroke. To reduce the risk of heart disease, you need to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, maintain a healthy weight and reduce stress and stay active. Playing tennis enables you to do all these things so that you can reduce your risk of heart disease.
• Enhances Flexibility, Coordination, and Balance – Your entire body is used when playing tennis. For example, the feet are used for positioning, arms and hands are used to hold the racquet and hit the ball and the torso and legs are used to propel you into motion. To do so, requires flexibility, coordination, and balance. Playing tennis regularly improves these three factors.
• Increases Brain Power – The game of tennis requires creativity, agility, tactical thinking, and coordination of body parts. All this keeps your brain active and, as a result, neurons, which transmit information between the brain and body, become stronger.
• Improves Bone Health – Age and bone mass loss go hand in hand. Any style of exercise, on a regular basis, increases bone mass and decreases bone mass loss. Tennis is an activity that is extremely beneficial for building bone mass.
• Weight Loss – All that running, swinging, and pivoting, when playing tennis, makes for a great workout. Tennis is a sport that involves the whole body and burns many calories. In fact, tennis burns more calories than cycling, golfing, and dancing. Increased calorie loss equates to increased fat loss.

Many active adult communities understand the health benefits of tennis for seniors. This is the reason they make sure these 55+ communities are equipped with tennis courts. If you are thinking about taking up a sport and staying active, consider tennis. The health benefits are monumental and you will start feeling better in no time.

This article is courtesy of ActiveAdultLiving.com®, the website that features information on more than 8,500 55 and over communities.