If golf is your favorite hobby, you've chosen a pastime with a surprising number of health benefits. It can tone your physique and exercise your heart. Not to mention, spending all that time with friends and relatives in the great outdoors can lower your stress levels and keep depression at bay.
Hitting the Links Is Like Hitting the Gym
If you skip the cart, you can walk a good distance during a game of golf, perhaps as far as eight miles. Plus, swinging those clubs really engages various muscle groups.
As a result, after 18 holes, most people have burned at least 500 calories. Moreover, playing golf on a regular basis usually results in lower blood pressure and lower risks for diabetes, certain cancers and strokes.
People often sleep better at night after golfing. Sleep, of course, is vital for regulating digestion, boosting the immune system and fixing tissue damage.
A Workout for the Mind
Think about all the decisions you make during a round of golf. You have to keep figuring out which clubs to use, how to position yourself, the best ways to angle your shots and so on. Plus, when you play a course for the first time, you might try to remember the layout so you'll have an advantage when you return.
Those mental configurations help keep your brain active and sharp. Therefore, golf can improve your memory, enhance your cognitive functioning and ward off dementia. Who needs crossword puzzles?
Making Your Game Even Healthier
To truly get a workout from your golfing, seek hilly courses. And, to tone your muscles even more -- and to save money while you're at it -- forget about a caddie. By carrying your clubs, you'll burn more than 100 extra calories.
Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden once studied hundreds of thousands of golfers. In 2008, the Institute released the results of that survey: The sport can increase the average person's lifespan by about five years. The game could make those years really happy ones, too, especially when you're out there sinking every putt.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland- edinburgh-east- fife-37567254
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/golf-health- benefits
https://www.eigca.org/Articles/21696/7-health- benefits-of- golf-why- golf-is- good-for- body-and- mind
http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/golf_exercise
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/us-open- 2012-golf- health-benefits_n_1600638.html
