Competitive Sports Can Improve Quality of Life at Any Age

Humana's 2019 National Senior Games scheduled for next month exemplify the value that organized senior sports can offer, reports the Davis Enterprise . The National Senior Games Association (NSGA) features 54 member games held each year throughout the United States and Canada. Athletes become eligible for the national games in even-numbered years within five-year age divisions. "While people are competing for medals, they are also pursuing their optimum health, which we say is your real personal best," says NSGA Chief Executive Marc T. Riker. "It's a lifelong journey that can begin for anyone, at any skill level, at any age." An NSGA study of highly active seniors found athletes measured an average fitness age 25 years younger than their chronological age. Accident prevention is another potential benefit of sports participation, with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention naming falls the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospitalizations among seniors. Competitive sports like the Senior Games involves participants mentally and socially, and offers them the goals and motivation they frequently need to stay active.