The Health Benefits You Can Experience When Playing Golf

It may not seem like it, but golf is in fact a sport. It is even so popular that the sport made an appearance at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Although many would agree that swinging a club at a ball is far less intense than some of the gymnastics events.

Even if golf does not appear to be as intense as some other sports, there are some health benefits that you can experience when playing the sport. Since many golfers spend a long afternoon in the clubhouse after a game, many of these benefits are ignored by the outside world. However, you can get fit playing golf if you do not partake in any of the eating and drinking behaviours associated with the game.

Walking

While the primary objective of golf is to hit a ball into a hole far away, this isn’t all you will be doing during your day on the green. A lot of eighteen-hole golf courses can spread up to and over six acres, and you have to walk that distance over the course of a standard golf game.

Oscar Wilde once described golf as a good walk spoiled. However, going for a good walk is always good for you no matter what you are doing at the time. Walking is great for your cardiovascular health, which greatly reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease. As such, a good round of golf could help you stay in shape, if you avoid using a golf cart to get around that is.

Social Benefits

Staying healthy isn’t just about looking after your physical health. Your mental well-being is also a big part of looking after yourself. Fortunately, a game of golf can help you in this area.

One way to ensure that you stay mentally healthy is by getting out and socialising. Getting together with a group of people can provide you with a sense of safety and sharing a laugh with friends can lift your mood. Since golf is a social game, it is a much better group activity than sitting in a pub and drinking together. Hitting the green in a matching set of golf clothes from Function 18 is a much better way of getting out of the house and staying healthy. As such, a quick game of golf can do a lot more for your mental health than you may have noticed.

Mental Resilience

Golf is a confusing game to those who do not play because of its irregular scoring system. It isn’t like football where landing the ball in the net counts as a single goal. Instead, golf is full of terms like:

– Par

– Birdie

– Eagle

– Albatross

– Bogie

Scoring in a game of golf is a numbers game, one that can take a lot of mental gymnastics to figure out. Fortunately, number games and puzzles are great for keeping your mind sharp and staving off conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s. This means that playing golf can help you to build up the mental resilience needed to fight off degenerative brain illnesses in the future.

Direct Sunlight

Everyone needs some nutrients and vitamins in their diet to stay healthy. One of the most essential of these vitamins that you need is vitamin D. It helps build strong bones and allows your body to absorb calcium. While vitamin D is in certain foods, it also comes from direct sunlight.

Since golf is a game that is best played on a nice sunny day, chances are that you will get a lot of vitamin D from the sun during a round of golf. It gets so easy for older people to miss out on this essential nutrient, which is why a trip to the green can be so vital for some of these individuals.

Relieving Stress

For some people, the simple act of engaging in any sport is enough to raise their stress levels. The competition and need to win overtake everything else, and this can be quite infuriating. However, golf is a much more relaxed sport. The central focus of the game relies on improving your game rather than winning a trophy. As such, just playing a game of golf can help reduce your stress levels.

It also helps to have something else to focus on rather than the thing that is causing you stress. High levels of stress can cause high blood pressure which can lead to other health complications like a stroke or heart attack. Therefore, having a way to reduce your stress is great, even if it is with a round of golf.

Summary

You may not have thought of golf being a great healthy activity before, but now you can see just how many benefits are associated with the sport. Plus, it always helps to just get out of the house and find something to do.