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Tennis is a great sport that exercises the body, mind and spirit. We often see tennis being played by young adults and children. Well, this trend is due to the fact that they have sufficient energy and endurance to play a vigorous kind of sports such as tennis. But, who says senior citizens can’t play tennis?
Old age doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be a hindrance for elderly people to enjoy tennis. If you are a senior citizen who is curious about tennis or you have an elderly in your family who could benefit from playing tennis, read on to find out the many advantages of tennis lessons for senior citizens.
Slows down Aging Effects
According to medical science, aging is frequently linked to two disease conditions. One is muscle wasting or sarcopenia, and the other is lower bone density or osteoporosis. While these two disease processes are inevitable in old people, playing active sports like tennis can help slow down these effects of aging. Studies show that around 25% of 70 year old people are experiencing sarcopenia associated with deteriorating health and general body weakness. However, research including senior tennis players revealed that elder players are more resistant to fatigue, weakness and wasting of the muscles due to stronger knee extensor and flexor muscles. Moreover, senior tennis players who have played for more than ten years had increased bone thickness and wider bone diameter in their playing arm. Also, lifelong tennis players exhibit muscle and bone mass thicker than non-tennis playing elders, providing them with the slightest chances of having osteoporosis and other bone diseases.
Manages Weight
Obesity (use BMI tool to determine whether you are obese) in older adults is a common sight considering that most of them are having sedentary lifestyles with little or no exercise at all. In their age, obesity can be a life-threatening condition as it may lead to serious diseases such as stroke and hypertension. Tennis is one of the sports that can battle obesity and manage weight of senior citizens. According to scientific studies, senior tennis players bur about 230 to 300 kilo calories (kcal) during 30 minutes of active tennis play. Thus, seniors who regularly play tennis are able to burn 700 kcal or more which facilitates healthy and natural management of their body mass. This prevents them from being obese and experiencing the medical conditions associated to it. With tennis, weight reduction is slow and steady, in contrast to sticking to dietary alterations.
Enhances Mind and Behaviour
Mental decline and behavioural changes are also common conditions among elderly people. It is normal for them to have slower reaction times than younger adults, as well as to exhibit poor memory levels. However, the great thing about getting tennis lessons for senior citizens is that the cognitive functions are retained much longer in senior tennis players than senior non-players. According to recent sports research, senior tennis players execute quicker reaction times much faster than senior people with sedentary lifestyles. Researchers explained that the reason behind this is probably the eye-hand and whole body coordination that tennis demands during play.