13 Reasons Why Golf Is Good for You
It is a common misconception that for effective physical fitness workouts you need to indulge yourself in highly intensive workout activities such as weightlifting, mountain climbing, running or cycling just to name a few. However, you do not have to put with an exercise routine that you will have no dedication. Are you a lover of golf? Then you are in luck because it just so happens that engaging in the 18 holes once or more per week has great physical as well as mental health benefits for you. The following thirteen reasons are the only ammunition you need to stop sneaking of the course whenever you feel like it.
1. Muscle and Bone Strengthening
Golf as a sport is primarily required to be played on a course that is as large as 200 acres which makes it by default an outdoor game. That exposes you to limitless amount of free vitamin D from the sun that helps your bones maintain appropriate calcium levels. Weight-bearing is also another important aspect of muscular and bone development. Fortunately for zealous golfers carrying your golf clubs around the course for hours transforms into weight-bearing exercise, without the occasional strain on joints like heavy gym lifting would do.
2. Weight Loss
It may not seem like it, but golfers burn tremendous amounts of calories within rounds on the course. All the walking a golfer would take in between an 18-hole round exceeds the recommended ten thousand steps by health professionals. You can expect to walk a cumulative four miles within the course in one game. Carrying your golf clubs around the course also burns you an ideal amount of calories. That is up to 721 calories if you are carrying them on your shoulders and 718 if you are using a cart. Add that to the swinging, and a golfer burns approximately, 1000 calories in a single game.
3. Heart Health
Now that swinging the club, carrying the clubs and walking around the course burns your calories, it goes without saying that as an exercise from golf keeps your heart rate up. The decreased level of bad cholesterol consequently increases your blood flow and reduces the risk of heart diseases.
4. Stress Relief
Being in an outdoor environment, playing a sport that you enjoy the company of friends is quite relaxing and has proof of being a great way to de-stress ones-self. A game of golf gives you all that in a single session. Research shows that being in the natural setup socialising with friends releases mood-enhancing chemicals in the golfer’s brain known as endorphins which makes them happier and relaxed.
5. Sleep Better
It is common knowledge that how we sleep affects our health, which is a rather unfortunate case for insomniacs. However, for golfers, the sleep is induced quicker and is more profound given the energy dispensed at the course. Plus with the tired body, your rest will be deeper thus enabling your body cells to regenerate and repair any torn muscles and tissues.
6. Enhanced Vision
It takes good vision to zoom into a small round golf ball across a 200-yard space. A golfer’s eyesight might not be that good when they start, but with time their visual ability is enhanced through adjusting to the sport’s requirement. Plus hand to eye coordination is improved in the process.
7. Strong Bladder
The toiling under the sun in an 18-hole round can make you thirsty which explains the trips to the course’s beer-cart. If your body’s metabolism works correctly, then you would feel the urge to use the loo, which is not easily accessible in a 200-acre golf course in between a game. However, the longer you train yourself to hold it the stronger your bladder gets.
8. Create Meaningful Relationships
Given that golf is more of a gentleman’s sport whereby there are more precision and less vigour, golfers get more downtime to interact. It forms an avenue for old friends to keep in touch and others to meet new people. You would be stunned at the number of business deals brokered and closed at the golf course; it is like killing two birds with a single pebble.
9. Reduced Risk of Injury
Golf is not a contact sport, thus entails less vigour relative to other sports. Your skill level is determined primarily by your strategy, coordination, accuracy and precision. That, therefore, puts you at an overall very low risk of getting injured while still improving your physical and mental health.
10. Enhanced Brain Functioning
Did you know that your brain needs three times as much oxygen as your muscles? Well, it does and golfing being a mental game as much as it is physical facilitates the pumping of blood to your brain thus improving nerve cell connections. Plus the concentration you put into your strategy at the course pumps oxygen-rich blood to your brain that is equivalent to walking which increases your mental ability.
11. Reduced Blood Sugar Levels
Playing golf helps your body to use up the glucose ingested into the body by the foods you eat. Most people take up foods that are transformed into glucose which is much more than they require in a day. Golf provides you with an enjoyable physical activity that helps you use up that glucose and resultantly reduce your blood sugar levels in a less strenuous manner.
12. Boost Your Confidence
With constant indulgence, you are bound to improve your skill in the game. Reducing your number of strokes or an occasional golden approach shot landing your ball close to the cup boosts one’s confidence as an athlete. Also, the constant interaction of the course helps boost once social confidence.
13. Longevity
All the above factors plus many others work together in improving the quality and quantity of your life. The outdoor exposure to the natural environment provides a lot more health benefits than the above mentioned ones. Such as reducing the risk certain cancers, dementia, heart diseases and depression. Plus golf being a less intensive game the risk of injury some of which have caused deaths is also immensely reduced.
All in all, golf is right for your mind and body and if you enjoy playing it then get ready to enjoy a combination of prosperous physical and mental health and pleasure.