New Research at St Mary's Finds Badminton is as Good as Running in Boosting Health

A new study published in the Journal of Sports Sciences from St Mary’s University, Twickenham suggests that women who regularly engage in badminton see improvements to key health markers. The study demonstrated that previously untrained women were able to increase a range of health and fitness markers following eight weeks of regular badminton, achieving improvements comparable to those who ran three times a week for eight weeks. The research from St Mary’s demonstrated that badminton reduces blood pressure to the same extent as blood pressure medicine, reduced heart rate at rest and during exercise, while increasing maximal oxygen uptake by 16%. Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at St Mary’s Dr Stephen Patterson said, “According to recent government statistics nearly 50% of women do not meet the required 150 minutes of exercise per week. Due to the ever-increasing sedentary nature of our work and home lives it is important we find strategies to get people involved in exercise. “The most important finding is that badminton is a feasible, fun and social way to improve the physical capacity and health profile of previously untrained women. The participants had no previous experience of badminton yet exercised to a similar level during their training sessions as those who took part in a running group for the same time period.” Senior lecturer in Health and Exercise Science at St Mary’s Dr Nicola Brown added, “Many females want to improve their fitness and lose weight, but not everyone wants to pound the streets or hit the gym. We have found that playing badminton not only improves physiological health but also increases social engagement, providing women with a fun and interactive way to improve their health and well-being.” To read the full study please click here.