According to research reported in a 2022 webmd.com article, “Research linked playing golf to improvements in known risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Regularly playing golf also improves lung function, especially in older adults, and this aids the optimum functioning of the heart.”
The American Stroke Association – a self-described “relentless force for a world with fewer strokes and longer, healthier lives” – posted a 2020 article titled “Golfing regularly could be a hole-in-one for older adults’ health.”
A 2008 article posted in Science Daily cites a Scandinavian study involving more than 300,000 participants. It found those who regularly played golf lived five years longer than those who didn’t, amounting to a 40% lower mortality rate among golfers.
Golf Digest published a 2020 story calling out “5 mental health benefits you get from golf.” First, it reduces anxiety, citing a previously posted article, which focused on a European study.
Golf offers social interaction and friendship, as reported by Medical News Today. Golf reduces the effects of depression, according to an Australian study covered by Scientific American. The game lowers stress and helps fatigued minds recover through “green exercise,” according to this 2015 study.
The fifth mental health benefit of the Golf Digest article: “Golf’s ability to improve mental health is strong enough that it was used as a means of therapy for people either with mental-health problems or substance abuse in this 12-person study.”
