Racquet sports, particularly tennis, consistently top the research as the healthiest sport you can play. Tennis players live an estimated 9.7 years longer than sedentary individuals, and racquet sports are associated with a 27% reduction in cardiovascular death risk. But the full picture is more nuanced than a single winner. The “healthiest” sport depends on what your body needs, and several activities deliver impressive benefits through different pathways.
Why Racquet Sports Lead the Pack
A large cohort study of over 80,000 British adults found that racquet sports participation was linked to a 56% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. That’s a striking number, and it outperformed swimming, cycling, and aerobics in the same analysis. Separately, a National Cancer Institute study found that racquet sports were associated with a 16% reduction in death from any cause and the greatest reduction in cardiovascular deaths of all activities studied, at 27%.
What makes racquet sports so effective is the combination of demands they place on your body. A game of tennis singles burns energy at roughly 8 METs (a standard measure of exercise intensity), while squash can reach 12 METs, comparable to running at nearly 9 miles per hour. But unlike steady-state cardio, racquet sports involve constant changes in direction, short explosive bursts, and recovery periods. This interval-style pattern is particularly effective at strengthening the heart and improving how your body processes blood sugar and cholesterol.
Tennis also adds something most solo exercises can’t: a social component. You need a partner, and often you play in groups or leagues. That social engagement appears to be a key reason racquet sports deliver such outsized longevity benefits, a point we’ll return to below.
Running Is Best for Cancer Prevention
Running was associated with a 15% reduction in all-cause mortality in the NCI study, nearly matching racquet sports. Where running stood out was cancer: it showed the greatest reduction in cancer death risk of any activity studied, at 19%.
Running is also one of the most metabolically intense activities available. Jogging at a moderate pace (about 5 mph) burns energy at 8.3 METs, and faster paces climb steeply. Running at 10 mph reaches 14.5 METs. That high caloric burn, combined with its accessibility (no equipment, no court, no partner), makes running one of the most practical options for people looking to improve cardiovascular fitness and maintain a healthy weight. The tradeoff is joint stress, particularly in the knees and hips, which makes it less suitable for people with existing joint problems or those looking for a lifelong sport they can sustain into older age.
Swimming Protects the Body While Building Fitness
Swimming is the closest thing to a full-body workout with built-in joint protection. Water supports your weight, eliminating the impact forces that come with running or court sports. That makes it accessible to people recovering from injuries, managing arthritis, or carrying extra weight.
Research comparing swimmers to walkers and sedentary men found that swimmers had lower total cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower fasting blood sugar, and lower resting heart rates. They also had higher levels of HDL cholesterol (the protective kind) than sedentary individuals. These are the metabolic markers most closely tied to heart disease and diabetes risk, and swimming improved nearly all of them.
The intensity range in swimming is wide. Leisurely swimming sits around 6 METs, while vigorous freestyle laps hit 9.8 and butterfly reaches 13.8, putting it in the same intensity category as fast running. That range means swimming can serve both as gentle rehabilitation and as serious cardiovascular training, depending on how hard you push.
Team Sports Offer Unique Mental Health Benefits
The psychological dimension of sport matters more than most people realize when thinking about “healthiest.” Physical activity in general raises endorphin levels, improves self-esteem, and enhances body image, all of which are linked to lower rates of depression. But team sports appear to amplify these effects through social connection.
Research on adolescents found that team sport participation predicted lower levels of depression both directly and indirectly through an increased sense of belonging. The social nature of team sports, working toward a common goal, communicating, making decisions together, builds a social circle and a sense of connection that individual exercise often doesn’t. For male adolescents in particular, team sports combined with a sense of school belonging were associated with significantly lower depression scores compared to those who played no sports at all.
Interestingly, gender played a role. Female students participating in individual sports reported lower depression levels, while male students doing individual sports actually showed higher depression scores than males who didn’t participate in sports at all. This suggests the social element of sport may be especially important for some groups, and that exercising alone isn’t always psychologically beneficial.
How Much Activity You Need
The good news from the research is that the specific sport matters less than doing something consistently. People who met the recommended amount of weekly physical activity through any combination of activities had a 13% lower risk of death from any cause. Even those who fell short of the recommended amount but did some recreational activity saw a 5% reduction in mortality risk compared to people who did nothing.
This means the healthiest sport is ultimately one you’ll keep doing. A tennis habit you maintain for decades will outperform a running program you abandon after six months. That said, if you’re choosing between options and enjoyment is roughly equal, the evidence gives racquet sports a meaningful edge, particularly for heart health and longevity.
Combining Sports for the Broadest Benefits
No single sport optimizes every dimension of health simultaneously. Racquet sports excel at cardiovascular protection and longevity. Running is the strongest option for cancer risk reduction and caloric burn. Swimming delivers comparable fitness gains with virtually zero joint impact. Team sports provide mental health benefits that solo activities often miss.
A practical approach is to build your routine around a primary sport you enjoy and supplement it with activities that fill the gaps. A tennis player might add swimming for upper-body endurance and joint recovery. A runner might join a recreational soccer league for the social benefits and lateral movement patterns that straight-line running doesn’t provide. The research consistently shows that variety in physical activity is associated with the broadest health improvements, so mixing sports isn’t just more fun, it’s better for your body.