Golf is not just a great hobby. It’s a wonderful way to improve your health. Contrary to a common opinion, golf is a complicated sport, which helps you train your body and mind. You are unlikely to have fun unless you make a certain effort.
Golf is not a game of relaxation. It requires physical readiness, concentration, and skill. That’s why golf players reap a variety of health benefits. If you are looking for a sport to take up, consider golf as one of the ways to improve your well-being. Here is how golf can become your key to a healthy and happy life.
1. Healthy Mind, Bones, And Heart
Even if you are a terrible golf player, you still get to spend several hours outdoors enjoying the scenery. Golf courses usually feature an abundance of sun, grass, trees, and water, allowing you to you breathe fresh air instead of sitting in a stuffy office.
Studies have shown that spending time on a green field relaxes your body, alleviates stress and anxiety, and prevents depression. Being out in the sun helps your body absorb the necessary amounts of vitamin D, which is responsible for healthy bone growth and a healthy heart.
2. Leaner Body
Nothing burns your calories better than a good round of cardio exercise. Even if you don’t move at a fast pace, walking around 200 acres is wonderful for your body. If you are not a lazy person and carrying your own clubs doesn’t bother you, you can burn even more calories.
Golfers who put all their energy into the game, carry their clubs, and opt for 18-hole courses, can burn more than 2,000 calories per game. To help you understand the scale, a Big Mac has 257 calories. You can calculate the calories you burn every game using a golf calorie calculator.
In order to get the best results out of walking on the golf course, you need to have comfortable golf shoes. Otherwise, your calorie-burning endeavor may turn into torture.
3. Improved Sleep
Walking for hours coupled with fresh air and great scenery is the recipe for a deep good night’s sleep. People who suffer from insomnia, may want to consider golfing on weekends. Regular exercising is the key to healthy sleep. Meanwhile, sun and fresh air make sure it’s long and deep. While you are sleeping, your muscles rest and repair. At the same time, your cardiovascular health improves.
4. Longer Life
Golfing increases life expectancy. Sounds impossible? It’s true! Swedish researchers found that golfers have a 40% lower mortality rate than non-golfers. Meaning golfers can potentially live 5 years longer than people who have never picked up a club in their life.
Another study by researchers from the University of Edinburgh showed that regular golf playing decreases the risk of such chronic diseases as type-2 diabetes, as well as strokes, heart attacks, colon and breast cancer.
5. Healthy Heart
Any physical exercise is great for your heart. It stimulates adrenaline production, which, in turn, increases the blood flow to your heart. This blood flow strengthens your heart naturally. You only have to exercise for 30 minutes a day to reduce your high blood pressure. Meanwhile, exercising improves cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart disease.
Golf is a perfect way to improve the health of your heart since it gives it sufficient exercise without putting too much strain on it.
6. Better Vision
Have you heard about exercising your eye muscles? Golfing forces you to exercise your eye muscles in a natural manner. You have to focus on the ball in front of you and the hole, which is far away. Switching the eye focus back and forth is a wonderful exercise for vision improvement.
