Kayaking is an excellent activity that makes for a fun time outdoors immersed in nature. But besides the tons of enjoyment it offers, kayaking is a great low-impact workout and serves as one of the most viable ways to improve your mental and physical health. Whether you are looking to escape your hectic daily schedule and relax and destress over the weekend or seeking to tone your body without putting in the hours of hardcore training in the gym, kayaking may well be the answer to it.
The following are some health benefits of kayaking that are sure to compel you to take to the water and partake in this exciting watersport.
Relieves Stress
The fast-paced, modern-day lifestyle makes it incredibly hard to avoid stress. Chronic stress can take a massive toll on all aspects of our body, be it, physical, emotional, or psychological. Besides the numerous physical benefits of kayaking, it also has profound mental health benefits. Kayaking is an excellent stress reliever as it triggers the release of chemicals in the brain that can significantly improve your mood and put you in that relaxed state of mind.
When you kayak, you escape the daily hustle and bustle of life and focus solely on the natural surroundings, keeping your mind on the present. Watching the boat move through the cool water, absorbing the beautiful sights around you, and taking in the fresh air does wonders to rid your mind of any stress and negativity and make for a tranquil and enjoyable experience.
Great Source Of Vitamin D
There are various foods that can provide you with vitamin D, including but not limited to oily fish, red meat, liver, and cheese. However, it is not always possible to receive a crucial vitamin from foods in optimal doses. As mentioned at www.watersportswhiz.com/, exposing yourself to the sun is the most powerful way to activate the production of vitamin D in the body. Your body will like it and you will feel better overall.
Going kayaking means that you will spend more time outdoors. Being under the sun helps your body to make the healthy amount of Vitamin D it needs. Vitamin D is vital for our body as it promotes calcium absorption, protects bone, muscle, and heart health, and boosts our immune system, keeping us away from illnesses.
Improves Heart Health
Kayaking is a highly effective activity that enhances your heart health and cardiovascular system. Kayaking is similar to aerobic activity. When you put in the energy to paddle through the water, your heart pumps faster and more forcefully. The quick and repetitive motions increase the heart rate, which helps enhance blood flow and elevate your cardiovascular health.
Kayaking also increases the total red blood cells in the body, and regularly performing the activity will keep your heart strong and healthy at all times.
Helps Lose Weight
Kayaking is among the many forms of low-impact exercise that can help you to shed those excess pounds and slim down. It can contribute to your weight loss journey and help achieve your ideal weight. An hour of kayaking through the waters can help you burn about four hundred calories. If you paddle for three hours at a speed of 5 mph, you can burn up about 1200 calories per session.
While you may think that you can burn more through other exercises, kayaking is also a lot more fun than traditional weight loss workouts like jogging on the treadmill. Combined with the right diet, kayaking can significantly help you achieve your health and fitness goals.
Provides A Full Body Workout
Grabbing a paddle and placing it in the water to execute a stroke incorporates nearly every muscle in your upper body, including the back, shoulders, arms, and chest. Your core, which includes the upper and lower abdominal muscles, also works hard to help move the paddle side to side. Each stroke you make twists your core, helping strengthen it.
While the benefits of kayaking are most evident on your upper body and core muscles, it is also a great workout for the legs. Keeping yourself balanced and steady on the kayak and turning it against the resistance of the water requires your legs to apply the needed pressure. These continuous muscle contractions and repetitive motions can gradually give you toned legs over time.
Accordingly, kayaking makes for a great full-body workout that can dramatically strengthen and define your entire body if done on a continuous basis.
Increases Endurance
Another physical benefit of kayaking is that it helps improve your stamina, enabling you to withstand long periods of effort without getting fatigued easily. You can keep paddling for as long as you want as there is no set limit on the time period you can kayak. Increasing the duration of your kayaking sessions will also increase your stamina.
Not only will this allow you to do the activity longer, but increase your energy levels which you can spend on other daily activities.
Boosts Mental Health
Not only does kayaking enhance your physical well-being, but also makes for a peaceful and soothing experience for the mind. Whether you are on the lake, sea, or ocean, enjoying the waterways as your paddle and being close to nature brings about numerous mental health benefits. Apart from nature’s effect on relieving stress and freeing you of unwanted and negative thoughts, it boosts your mood, lifts self-worth, increases happiness, and provides an overall sense of well-being.
For anyone struggling with mental health issues such as depression, taking up a sport such as kayaking can be a viable way to alleviate symptoms of mental health disorder.
Improves Sleep Quality
If you regularly toss and turn in bed, kayaking can help improve your symptoms. Just like any other exercise, kayaking exhausts you, which will help you fall into deep slumber much faster and sleep more soundly throughout the night. Ultimately, it will decrease the time you lay awake in bed at nighttime, giving you a good night’s sleep.
Kayaking is an enthralling experience and has several positive effects on your mind, body, and soul. If you want to boost your health without sweating it out in the gym, kayaking works wonder to help achieve that, all while you explore the mesmerizing beauty of nature and discover some awe-inspiring hidden gems as you paddle your way through the waters.
