Playing pickleball, one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S., may ward off depression as well as improve fitness, according to two new studies on the game’s health benefits.

A new Western State Colorado University study of 15 middle-aged and older adults found that regular pickleball playing — in this case three times a week for one hour for six weeks — resulted in improved blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness. The researchers, who published the findings in the International Journal of Research in Exercise Physiology, said the game’s “moderate exercise intensity,” combined with its “fun factor,” supports it “as an ideal alternative form of physical activity” for this age group.

With an estimated 3.13 million people in the U.S. playing pickleball in 2017 (an increase of about 11 percent over the previous year, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association), it’s become one of the fastest-growing sports. Countless municipal tennis courts are doubling as pickleball courts with the easy addition of another set of lines (pickleball uses an area the size of a doubles badminton court, 20 by 44 feet, smaller than a tennis court).

Many players are older, in part because pickleball offers aerobic exercise without a lot of risk of injury. Games usually last 10 to 15 minutes, so players can take frequent breathers, and since the court is small and most people play doubles, there’s no serious running — making it easier on the knees. You’re also less likely to have an injury such as tennis elbow, thanks to the lightweight paddle (like a Ping-Pong paddle but larger) and plastic ball.

Read the entire article from Ianzito HERE 

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