The sport may not be as action-packed as some of the more popular contact sports that are played across the world. However, if there is one thing that golfing can do in abundance, that is benefit your health to a great degree. There is plenty of research and evidence to suggest that playing can have a positive impact on your physical and mental fitness. Here are the many ways that golfing accomplishes this.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
Read More »Some people meditate while others simply try to sleep it off. However, golfing can prove to be an effective outlet to reduce stress and anxiety. First, unlike activities such as basketball and football, golfing entails you simply walking through nature in the great outdoors. This fresh air can increase your serotonin and endorphin levels to a great degree, and this leads to reduced anxiety and improved mood. In addition, you can get great relaxation because the activity isn’t as strenuous as others.
Exercise
Of course, golfing also entails that you will get in some exercise. When you account for the walking that is involved from moving to each hole to swinging the actual golf club itself, you are giving yourself a full-body workout without even realizing it. With each swing, you are giving your abdomen, back, legs, arms and other important muscles exercises because of the repetitious nature of golfing. From novice golfers to professionals such as Tiger Woods, there may be over 30 repetitions over the course of each round.
Weight Loss
If you didn’t notice it immediately, the majority of the kind of exercise you will be performing while golfing is cardio-based. Therefore, this can provide you with the perfect opportunity to lose weight.
An 18-hole round of golf will have you walk around 6 miles or so. This can amount to almost 1,5000 calories burnt just by walking from hole to hole. Now, of course, there is the alternative of riding in a buggy to avoid making these long walks. However, the benefits that you get as a result from making the walk definitely go a long way. You will definitely be far less stressed walking in the great outdoors as opposed to engaging in sports such as vigorous weightlifting workout sessions.
Social Event
One of the biggest benefits of playing golf is that it is a social event, and it can put you in a situation where you are interacting with friends and family. Golfing can be done in a competitive context, but it can also prove to be a great social pass time. In fact, golfing clubs across the country are highly renowned for being accepting of players of eery kind of budget and class. This could lessen the anxiety of interacting with people whom you may not have been in contact with before.
In the modern age, golfing clubs are also welcoming new members, and experienced players have been more than happy to share their knowledge and wisdom about the game to novices. Being a part of a club can prove to be a great platform for socializing and meeting new people. This can serve as a great compliment to your mental fitness, and you may even make some lifelong friends in the process.
Alertness
Golfing has the benefit of being both a physically and mentally engaging game. With each swing of the club, you always have a risk/reward proposition to make. There are various aspects of the game that you always have to keep in mind, and each decision that you make could either bring you closer to victory or closer to last place. Regardless of such, it is keeping your mind engaged on the game itself.
This is very important because when your mind is focused on the game, it will be also taken off of any other worries that you have outside golfing. This can significantly reduce stress and anxiety about worrying so much about your daily struggles.
As you can see, we all have unique struggles that we go through, but golfing has proven to be an effective way to serve as a distraction to all of those difficulties. You do not have to be an expert at the game to have fun, and you certainly don’t need to be an expert for the sport to benefit your health. Grab a club, and give it a try.
