International cricketers live longer?

It seems that this research from St Andrew's University tells us that international cricketers live longer. That all seems to make sense - a career that is outdoors, keeps you (relatively!) fit, and is relatively free of stress while also including some adrenaline moments could be just what the doctor ordered. Long live international cricketers!

Well not, perhaps, if you were a professional playing in the amateur/pro time where amateurs lived considerably longer than the pros....presumably because the amateurs were (generally) posh and may well have had better food/lived in a better environment.

But what this article goes onto is stress - I've talked before about the peculiar mentality needed by players to get over bad decisions and long runs of poor form. It's a particular type of stress - I don't think the average UK office worker who has to sit behind a desk for 50 hours a week will feel particularly sorry for cricketers, but nevertheless it is a type of stress. But clearly the positives of reaching the pinnacle of your profession outweigh the negatives in terms of likely lifespan if this research is to be believed.