{"id":355,"date":"2026-06-05T11:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T11:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/?p=355"},"modified":"2026-06-14T15:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T15:08:10","slug":"senior-golf-longer-life-karolinska-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/senior-golf-laenger-leben-karolinska-studie\/","title":{"rendered":"Live five years longer \u2014 through golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

STUDY \u00b7 KAROLINSKA INSTITUTE<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

Live five years longer\u2014through golf.<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>

The Swedish Karolinska study analyzed 300,000 golfers. The result changes how we should think about senior golf.<\/span><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

I<\/span>I'm 68. If I take this study seriously, I did something this morning that increased my life expectancy by five years. Not living a little longer. Five years. That's more than giving up being overweight statistically yields, more than jogging \u2014 and almost as much as quitting smoking.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The number sounds too large to be true. However, it is well-documented. The Swedish Karolinska Study from 2008 published it, and since then, the finding has been reinforced by further research. It is one of the most impressive studies on exercise and life expectancy ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>

What the study really showed<\/h2>\n

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm compared the membership data of the Swedish Golf Federation with the national death register. Over 300,000 golfers were included in the evaluation\u2014a sample size that is almost unique in sports-related studies.<\/p>\n

The researchers controlled for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. This is important because golfers, on average, are slightly wealthier and more educated than the general population.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\u221240% lower mortality rate among golfers compared to the general population \u2014 equivalent to about five years of increased life expectancy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

Why this effect is so strong<\/h2>\n

A round of golf is more than just a walk. Four to five hours outdoors, six to seven kilometers at your own pace \u2013 that's moderate endurance activity for a duration that no other sport offers so effortlessly.<\/p>\n<\/div>

It's not about golf being a cure. It's about how frequent, regular play is a lifestyle that combines exercise, social connection, and mental challenge.<\/em><\/h2>\n

\u2014 From the Study, Discussion<\/p>\n<\/div>

However, exercise alone does not explain the effect. Three further drivers are added, and for older players in particular, they may be even more important than calorie consumption.<\/p>\n

Social Interaction<\/h2>\n

A flight round lasts four hours. Four hours of uninterrupted conversation with three other people \u2013 that practically doesn't exist anywhere else in everyday life.<\/p>\n

Outdoor time<\/h2>\n

Daylight regulates hormone balance, vitamin D is produced, and mood stabilizes. Those who play twice a week spend 8 to 10 hours outdoors.<\/p>\n

Mental strain<\/h2>\n

Every shot requires a decision: club, wind, lie, target. A round is a four-hour cognitive task in nature.<\/p>\n<\/div>

What the study doesn't say<\/h2>\n

Honesty is part of this magazine\u2019s ethos: The Karolinska study is an observational study, not a randomized controlled trial. In other words, it shows a correlation, but it does not necessarily prove a causal relationship.<\/p>\n

\n
THREE LESSONS<\/div>\n

What we should take away from the study<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
01<\/div>\n
Frequency beats intensity.<\/div>\n
Three short rounds per week bring more than a 36-hole session on the weekend.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
02<\/div>\n
Go, don't drive<\/div>\n
The cart robs the round of exactly what makes it healthy. Trolley instead of buggy.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
03<\/div>\n
Stay in the game<\/div>\n
Anyone who throws down their racket out of score frustration statistically loses years.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

On this page<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
ON THIS PAGE<\/div>\n
01<\/strong>  What the study shows<\/div>\n
02<\/strong>  Why the effect is so strong<\/div>\n
03<\/strong>  What the study doesn't say<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
MS<\/div>\n
\n
Mathias Struwe<\/div>\n
PUBLISHER \u00b7 HCP 31 \u00b7 68 YRS.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
300,000<\/div>\n
Swedish golfers flowed into the evaluation<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
\n
SOURCE<\/div>\n
Farahmand, B., Broman, G., De Faire, U., V\u00e5ger\u00f6, D., & Ahlbom, A. (2009). Golf: A Game of Life and Death \u2014 Reduced Mortality in Swedish Golf Players.<\/em> Scand J Med Sci Sports, 19(3), 419\u2013423.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Karolinska Institute: Those who play golf regularly live, on average, five years longer than non-players. This figure comes from a study of 300,000 Swedes over 20 years.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[231,13],"tags":[18,29,33,17,31],"class_list":["post-355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ausruestung-schlaeger","category-senioren-golf-gesundheit","tag-gesundheit-praevention","tag-karolinska-studie","tag-score-verbesserung","tag-senior-golf","tag-ueber-60"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355\/revisions\/1141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/senior-golf.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}