PARIS, Oct 19 — Have you heard of pickleball? This racket sport partway between tennis, badminton and ping-pong is already a hit in the USA, and its popularity is growing in Europe. And that’s just as well, since a new study extols its physical and mental health benefits, enabling players to work on their endurance and improve their cardiovascular fitness and respiratory capacity, while also enjoying the game’s positive impact on well-being.

The unexpected success of pickleball is excellent news for the fight against sedentary lifestyles, and for getting people to meet health guidelines on physical activity. The sport, which originated in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, a few miles from Seattle, took a long time to catch on, but it’s now seeing astonishing growth — among the fastest in the world. In the United States, more than 48 million adults are said to have practiced this activity at least once in the last 12 months, ie, almost 19 per cent of the total adult population, reports the Association of Pickleball Players (APP). Just a few months earlier, the number stood at ‘just’ 36.5 million, testifying to the spectacular growth of this sport which is now taking hold in Europe.

Pickleball is firmly in the spotlight, and is also the subject of scientific studies to determine its health benefits. The latest such research, the Apple Heart and Movement Study, was carried out by the technology firm in collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the American Heart Association, involving over 200,000 participants across the USA. Participants agreed to share their data, collected via the Apple Watch, enabling scientists to analyse more than 250,000 pickleball and tennis training sessions. One of the aims was to compare the health benefits of these two sports.

Not just for older people

Long viewed as a sport for people in their 60s, pickleball actually brings together all generations, as this new study reveals. "Both sports were popular across ages and more popular for men than women,” reads the study. This finding confirms data from the Association of Pickleball Players, estimating the average age of pickleball players to be 34.8 years. While recent studies have highlighted the health benefits of pickleball for older people, enabling them to meet health recommendations for moderate to vigorous exercise, it turns out that pickleball can be just as beneficial for younger people.

"Physical inactivity is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and a number of other chronic conditions. Finding an activity that someone enjoys partaking in can help build a routine, whether that means picking up a paddle or a racket,” says Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s vice president of Health. Considered a fun activity that helps people to exercise almost without realising it, pickleball is said to have overtaken tennis this summer in terms of the number of players in a single month, which is why it’s worth comparing the benefits of the two sports.

As many benefits as tennis

According to the study, workout duration was found to be longer for pickleball players than for tennis players — albeit only slightly — at 90 minutes versus 81 minutes. However, this research shows that "tennis workouts averaged more time spent in higher-intensity heart rate zones and had a higher average peak heart rate.” In detail, the researchers report that the average peak heart rate observed was nine beats per minute higher for tennis, at 152 beats per minute versus 143 for pickleball. Results which nevertheless testify to the physical intensity of this fast-growing racket sport, which is beneficial to heart health.

"Both pickleball and tennis workouts were often played for long periods of time, with participants averaging a peak heart rate within 70 per cent of their estimated max heart rate during recorded workouts. Regular physical activity is associated with improved quality of life and healthy aging,” the research reads. And that’s not all: pickleball is also associated with better mental health. These findings were obtained using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), a screening tool for depression.

According to the scores obtained, pickleball is slightly more effective than tennis in reducing the risk of experiencing depressed moods. "The odds of the PHQ-2 results suggestive of depressed mood were 60.1 per cent lower among frequent pickleball players and 51.3 per cent lower among tennis players than the general participant pool, reinforcing the potential benefits of physical activity on mental well-being,” says the study. "We are pleased to see pickleball-related findings included in the Apple Heart and Movement Study.... There are numerous benefits for individuals of all ages and backgrounds on the pickleball courts as part of a healthy, social, and active lifestyle,” comments Mike Nealy, USA Pickleball’s chief executive officer.

These findings support the health benefits of pickleball, as highlighted by researchers from North Carolina State University in April. Their pilot study of 33 adults aged 65 and over who played pickleball at least twice a week also found benefits for the heart. In particular, a pickleball session enabled participants to engage in moderate to vigorous exercise for more than 68 minutes, on average, and to work on their endurance and respiratory capacity. — ETX Studio