Does your other half complain that you spend a little too much time on the golf course? We’ve all been there – but don’t worry, you can let them know that regularly engaging in a round of golf offers some amazing health benefits that they surely wouldn’t want you to miss out on.
Physical benefits
Golf is a low impact sport that nonetheless has some great benefits to your body and your health.
- Weight loss: Golfers usually exceed 10,000 steps in a typical round of golf, which is the daily recommended requirement for exercise. Dragging your golf buggy around also helps with the calorie burn; and even if you’re using a motorised golf buggy, you still get the benefits of climbing in and out of it constantly and hitting your strokes.
- Heart health: Walking the course is a great way of getting your heart rate up and improving your cardiovascular health, and walking quickly can be just as beneficial as running. Swinging also raises your heart rate, increasing blood flow to your heart.
- Stronger bones and improved posture: Weight-bearing exercise needs to be started at a young age to ensure healthy bones as you get older. Carrying your clubs turns your round of golf into weight-bearing exercise that is good for your bones but easy on the joints.
- Better sleep: Regular exercise is great for enabling you to fall asleep easily and get better quality sleep.
- Improved vision and coordination: Golfers require great vision to track the flight of their ball, and doing this regularly improves your ability to hone in on small targets from long distances. Hitting your strokes helps you maintain and improve your hand-eye coordination.
- Overall longevity: Any type of exercise can add years to your life, even lower intensity ones like golf.
Mental benefits
Golf is not just a physical game, however; it stimulates you mentally as well.
- Good for your brain: Blood flow to your brain increases as your heart rate increases, which stimulates and improves nerve cell connections, thus delaying the onset of mental illnesses such as dementia. The mental aspect of the game is also challenging for your brain and improves your mental capacity, in much the same way as doing puzzles.
- Reduces stress: Getting exercise and enjoying time outdoors are great at reducing stress levels, and that’s not even mentioning the social aspect of golf, which is often a favourite way to de-stress.
- Renews your spirit: The positive benefits of golf and the release of endorphins all add up to making you happier and more relaxed.
Social benefits
Golf is one of the few sports which has a strong social aspect – walking and talking is all part of the game.
- Fosters relationships: Golf is a great social sport and an enjoyable way of maintaining and developing friendships.
- Talking over your problems: as you walk around the course you can use the time to discuss and find solutions to those things that are bothering you.
So, it’s official – playing golf can improve your quality of health and your quality of life. And who wouldn’t want that?
