Racket sports top the list. In a large study published in JAMA Network Open, playing tennis, squash, badminton, or pickleball was associated with a 16% lower risk of dying from any cause and a 27% lower risk of dying from heart disease or stroke, both greater reductions than running, swimming, cycling, golf, or walking. But the full picture is more interesting than a single winner, because the greatest health gains come from combining different types of movement.
Why Racket Sports Come Out on Top
Racket sports pack several health dimensions into one activity. You get bursts of high-intensity effort (sprinting to the ball), sustained aerobic work, quick direction changes that build balance and coordination, and a social component that benefits mental health. The JAMA study compared older adults doing equivalent amounts of weekly exercise across seven activity types, and racket sports edged out running for all-cause mortality reduction. For cardiovascular mortality specifically, the gap was even wider: a 27% reduction for racket sports compared to smaller reductions for every other category measured.
That said, the best activity is always one you’ll actually do consistently. What makes racket sports shine in the data may partly reflect the fact that they’re fun enough to keep people showing up week after week, and the social element adds accountability.
How Running and Walking Compare
Running delivers impressive longevity benefits at relatively low time commitments. A study of over 55,000 adults in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that runners lived roughly 3 years longer than non-runners on average. For cardiovascular-specific mortality, the gap widened to about 4 years of additional life expectancy. Running was associated with a 15% lower risk of all-cause mortality in the JAMA analysis, putting it just behind racket sports.
Walking is less dramatic per minute of effort but remarkably effective when you look at population-level data. A meta-analysis found that all-cause mortality risk drops by about 9% for every additional 1,000 steps per day, with protection kicking in at just over 3,000 steps daily. The greatest benefit appeared above 12,500 steps per day, where the risk of dying from any cause dropped by 65% compared to the least active group. For people who find running or racket sports inaccessible, walking is far from a consolation prize.
Swimming: Easiest on the Joints
Swimming works nearly every muscle group while placing almost no stress on joints, making it one of the most sustainable options for people with arthritis, joint injuries, or higher body weight. Swimmers have a 28% lower risk of early death and a 41% lower risk of dying from heart disease or stroke compared to non-swimmers, according to a major study commissioned by Swim England. Research on postmenopausal women with high blood pressure found that swimming lowered blood pressure and improved arterial stiffness, a key marker of cardiovascular aging.
The trade-off is that swimming doesn’t load your bones the way weight-bearing activities do, so it’s less effective at preventing osteoporosis. If swimming is your primary exercise, adding some form of resistance training covers that gap.
Strength Training and the 60-Minute Sweet Spot
Lifting weights, using resistance bands, or doing bodyweight exercises like squats and push-ups provides benefits that cardio alone can’t match: stronger bones, better blood sugar regulation, preserved muscle mass as you age, and improved balance that reduces fall risk. Recent meta-analyses point to a U-shaped relationship between resistance training volume and mortality, with the optimal dose landing at about 60 minutes per week. More than that still helps with strength and function, but the mortality benefit doesn’t keep climbing.
The CDC recommends at least two days per week of muscle-strengthening activity for all adults, including older adults and those with chronic conditions. For bone health specifically, the NHS recommends weight-bearing activities like lifting weights, dancing, heavy gardening, stair climbing, and yoga.
Combining Cardio and Strength Multiplies the Effect
The single most consistent finding across large studies is that doing both aerobic exercise and resistance training outperforms either one alone. A study published in Hypertension Research examined adults with high blood pressure and found that meeting aerobic guidelines alone reduced the risk of dying from any cause by 24%. But meeting both aerobic and strength training guidelines reduced that risk by 40%. For cardiovascular mortality, the combined approach cut risk by 43%, nearly double the benefit of cardio alone.
Among people without high blood pressure, the combined effect was even more striking. Those who met both guidelines had a 69% lower risk of cardiovascular death compared to inactive individuals. This synergy makes sense: aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and blood vessels, while resistance training improves metabolic health, preserves lean mass, and supports the musculoskeletal system that keeps you active in the first place.
High-Intensity Training: Efficient but Not Superior
High-intensity interval training (alternating short bursts of all-out effort with recovery periods) is often marketed as a shortcut to fitness. The reality is more nuanced. A randomized controlled trial comparing HIIT to moderate-intensity continuous exercise found that after 24 sessions, the improvements in aerobic fitness were not statistically different between groups. The HIIT group averaged a 9.4% increase in VO2 max while the moderate group averaged 5.9%, but the difference wasn’t significant once confounding factors were accounted for.
HIIT’s real advantage is time efficiency. You can get comparable cardiovascular improvements in 20 minutes instead of 45. That matters for people with packed schedules, but it doesn’t make HIIT categorically better. It’s also harder to sustain long term and carries a higher injury risk for beginners.
What the Guidelines Actually Recommend
The CDC’s current guidelines for adults call for at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (like brisk walking) plus muscle-strengthening activities on at least two days per week. For children and adolescents, the target is 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous activity daily, with vigorous activity on at least three of those days.
These are minimums, not ceilings. The research consistently shows a dose-response relationship: more activity, more benefit, up to a point. But the sharpest drop in mortality risk comes from moving out of the “completely inactive” category. If you currently do nothing, even 3,000 steps a day or 60 minutes of weekly resistance training puts you in a measurably safer zone.
Choosing What Works for You
If you want the single activity with the strongest mortality data behind it, racket sports are the current frontrunner. But fixating on a single “best” exercise misses the larger point. The research consistently shows that combining aerobic activity with strength training produces health benefits that neither delivers alone. A practical weekly routine might look like a few days of something that gets your heart rate up (running, swimming, cycling, a racket sport) plus two sessions of resistance work.
For older adults concerned about bone health and fall prevention, weight-bearing exercises and balance-focused activities like yoga or tai chi deserve priority alongside aerobic work. For anyone with joint limitations, swimming provides cardiovascular protection comparable to land-based exercise without the impact. The activity that offers the most health benefits is, ultimately, the combination you enjoy enough to keep doing for years.