The Top 5 Sports That Can Prolong Your Life, Vitality And Thinking (Even Elon Musk is talking about it.)
I often discuss the mind-body-energy-soul connection. This month, I want to focus primarily on the body and its impacts on vitality.
As a wellness specialist (okay, fanatic) and coach, I'm excited to share the top five sports that can significantly prolong your life. While I've known about these findings since 2020, hearing Elon Musk mention them recently reminded me to share them with you. These sports are beneficial not just for the physical aspects but also for contributing to a longer and healthier life and improving our cognitive abilities.
But first, let me ask you:
How much vitality and energy do you have in the years of your life you have left versus just the number of years left?
What would you rate yourself out of 1- 10? Where 10 is I’m feeling vibrant, healthy and fit. 1 = I find it hard to get off the floor; energy depleted.
What do you want it to be?
Intention: To live a full vibracious life!
I ask this because I’ve been there. I’ve faced a fragile health journey—six major surgeries, years of chronic pain and fatigue, and the mental fog that came with it. I know what it’s like to push through life, feeling disconnected from my body and soul. My experience taught me that the mind-body-energy-soul connection is real.
Today, I want to honour the body as our vessel for connecting more deeply with our mind, energy, and soul. I know that I recovered much faster after surgeries and was more resilient in my mind and body due to the power of sport, which shifts stagnant energy, increases endorphins, and empowers us to be more consciously aware of what is happening in our bodies - this is called conscious embodiment. This allows us to attend to our body and its needs, learn to speak the language of the body and understand the ‘intel’ it has for us.
Prolonging Life: How I Discovered the Power of These Sports.
This week, Elon Musk referred to research findings from the Copenhagen City Heart Study, which started in 1976 and was published by the Mayo Clinic in 2018. It made me smile because I stumbled upon this study in January 2020, just before the world changed. At the time, I was working with the Mayo Clinic in New York as a senior product manager for an AI medical imaging company. I remember chatting with a doctor about how social interactions positively impact our health and lifespan. I intuitively felt that social sports—if not overly competitive—could make us both healthier and happier. Turns out, I was right!
So, what are the top sports associated with increased life expectancy:
The Top 5 Sports for Longevity
1. Tennis: +9.7 years (Try any racquet sport)
2. Badminton: +6.2 years
3. Soccer (Football): +4.7 years (please note that many heart attacks also happen for unfit men who do no exercise and then decide to run around a pitch for 1 hour, putting considerable strain on their organs- so beware!)
4. Cycling: +3.7 years
5. Swimming: +3.4 years
The Real Reasons Behind Their Benefits
Social Interaction Matters:
The highest-ranking sports involve social interaction, which is linked to better mental and emotional health. We’re social beings at our core, and thus, our feeling of community also promotes happiness in general. Research on centenarians (like Dan Buettner’s work in Blue Zones) and studies on dementia (like David Snowdon's The Nun Study) all point to the importance of community as a contributor to longevity and happiness.
Group sports and racquet sports
Personally, I’ve often chosen solo activities like running, cycling, or yoga because I’m an early riser and love starting my day with movement before meditation. But now, I’m inspired to add more social activities—like finally setting a date to play badminton with my best friend Jackie! (if you are reading this, Jackie, let's set a date!)
2. Cardiovascular Health:
Many of these activities improve heart health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and boost overall fitness. I’ve always been drawn to the idea of sports that make my heart race—not just for the physical benefits but for the sense of aliveness they bring. I remember my days of triathlon and marathon training, where I felt both my body and soul come alive with every mile, albeit I kept the mantra of: “ I love this, and you’re doing great, Nila” on repeat and guess what? My brain and body helped me complete the marathon in under 4 hours!
Your brain is in a box, so send it positive messages!
Nevertheless, as midlife women, we do need to make some adjustments for menopause and perimenopause. I could write for pages on this, but running and heavy cardio may start to fall off your radar, and that’s okay.
The critical advice here is to use Muscle and strength training to combat osteoporosis due to a fall in oestrogen. Reach out if you want more info here.
Note: By the way, that HRT scare. Ignore it. It was the worst research ever and never should have had air time! This is a perfect case of grabbing headlines and business incentives.
3. Variety in Movement:
Sports like tennis, badminton, and soccer require diverse physical movements—running, jumping, quick directional changes—that challenge different muscle groups. I love the idea of keeping our bodies guessing. Dancing is just as good, especially if you’re learning new moves; this will call in your cognitive powers, too—keeping your brain young. The general rule is to get uncomfortable and push your comfort zone, but have fun! It’s all play, really!
The Link Between Cognition And Movement: The "Little Brain"
Other studies have shown how movement benefits cognition. For example, learning to dance or cycling can boost brain function. This is largely due to the cerebellum—the "little brain" that supports motor control and cognitive processes. Only recently have neuroscientists led by Herculano-Houzel's Research understood how vital this tiny but critical part of our brain is.
Imagine that out of the 86 billion neurons in our entire brain, 68-69 billion are in this little area. The more we move, the more we engage this part of the brain.
Keep moving to keep thinking clearly!
Cerebellum is the little green area.
The Importance of Core Stability: Lessons from My Journey
As a sports trainer, I can’t stress enough the importance of core stability in avoiding injury and maintaining mobility. This is one reason I became a personal trainer in the first place—I had too many exercise instructors who didn’t understand this, leading to poor form and injuries.
Poor cores were also a critical reason two incredible 75+-year-old ladies I train kept falling. Now, our key goal is to keep their cores strong so they can stay active, independent, and vibrant and walk their dogs. One lady took about 2 minutes to get off the ground; now, she is up in about 20 seconds!
This reflects the mystical saying, "As within, so without." A strong core means you don’t rely on weak, superficial muscles. Your strong core will hold and support you!
Here’s a challenge:
Can you get up from the floor without using your hands? How about holding a plank for a minute? Or squat sitting comfortably - try it while watching TV or reading a book?
These simple tests can reveal your core strength and balance. A strong core doesn’t just hold you up physically; it’s a metaphor for our emotional and spiritual stability, too.
From Band-Aids to Real Healing
So, I have shared why we should exercise—the type that promotes life & vitality—but here’s the other uncomfortable truth.
I used to rely on exercise as a band-aid—a way to chase an endorphin high rather than face the deeper issues. It took a long time to learn that true healing comes from listening to our bodies and souls. Don’t wait until your body screams to get your attention—listen to the whispers now. Your awakening doesn’t need to be as painful as mine, and your ‘body really keeps the score’! (As per the best-selling book, The body keeps the score).
As Within - So Without: Are you ready to be Unbounded?
If you’re ready to explore building strength from the inside out—consider joining my Unbounded course. Although this program is about awakening our innate intuition by learning the language of the soul, the body, energy, and subconscious parts act as a circuit breaker to our intuitive superpower. That is why the journey is really about self-mastery and becoming unbounded to unlock our unlimited and best selves. Once we unlock this, we are on our way to activating our innate intuition - our real superpower. This course is about science and the ancient wisdom of being soul-led.
Early Bird pricing until 20th September.
(Please note the date change).
8 Week Programme To Awakening Your Innate Intuition
So the invitation from this blog is: Move. Give energy, and energy gives back.
Final question:
Let me know what social sport you may try and your vitality rating out of 10. And more challenging: What will you do to increase or maintain it?
With moonbeams
Nila
Sources:
Association of specific types of sports and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: a cohort study of 80,306 British adults"** published in the *Mayo Clinic Proceedings* in 2018.
Herculano-Houzel, S. (2009). "The Human Brain in Numbers: A Linearly Scaled-Up Primate Brain." Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
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