Exercising outdoors remains the world’s most popular fitness activity. Surfing is such an activity providing key physical as well as mental benefits in scenic locations worldwide. A big wave, a surfboard and you – that’s all that the sport needs.
Here are 7 reasons you should surf:
1) Surfing makes for a complete body workout
Surfing involves a lot many of your muscles, including your upper back, shoulder, chest and core muscles. Paddling, for instance, requires the upper back and shoulder muscles. It also makes your heart pound harder, offering effective cardio to burn calories.
Overall, surfing puts your energy, balance, suppleness and stamina to the test. This way, it’s a complete body workout. A free gym indeed, on the surface of the ocean!
Besides building up, shaping and toning your body, surfing also lets you inhale crisp salty air which helps to clean your entire body from within.
2) Surfing relieves stress
This sport is truly a healer. While working as a therapy against stress, every surfing session gives you immense pleasure, improves your mood and harmonises you. A mixture of harsh moments and small gratifications, a surf ride is an ideal connection with the deep ocean.
While your body bonds deeply with the wild waters, you tend to focus on nothing else but the present, with a clear mind. Catching the ocean waves soothes depressive thoughts, insomnia, anxiety and self-destructive behaviours. You can quickly expect to enter the water sleepy and in a foul mood and get out refreshed and delighted.
Doctors strongly recommend that you indulge in surfing if you’re recuperating from mental disorders. So, live for the moment as you surf the ocean, and keep stress at bay.
3) Surfing helps to develop patience
Undoubtedly a big challenge for most people, patience is an art which seems easy from afar. However, surfing makes it possible to develop patience.
Generally, you take longer to learn to surf than to learn other sports like biking. While learning to surf, you’ll be experiencing several tough moments to achieve only small gratifications. This way you’ll learn to develop patience again and again.
Surfing teaches you to value small progress. When you finally learn to stand up or succeed in mastering a move, like catching the correct waves after an hour’s wait, you’ll have developed great patience also.
So, in future, standing in a long queue at the grocer’s will most certainly not fret you.
4) Surfing allows you to indulge in travel
If you’re passionate about surfing, you can indulge in surf trips and make travelling more fun. What’s more, you’d probably globe-trot and chase waves all over the planet!
While exploring new places, you’d hear about different waves from the local surfers, urging you to have a try at them. So, whether it’s about surfing the warm ocean waters in California, or chasing the ice-cold waves in Antarctica, or sharing the space with deadly sharks in southernmost Africa, you’re game for the sport anyway.
If you’re a newbie at the sport, your upcoming beach-bound holiday is possibly a nice time to get it going.
5) Surfing bonds you deeply with nature
If you surf regularly, you understand the behaviour of the ocean. You know how ocean waves, ocean currents, atmospheric conditions and winds work together. As you surf, you learn to respect the waters while depending on the currents and seeing the direct effects of contamination.
So, surfing offers a perspective to personal lives as well as the world’s happiness. If you love surfing, you can even build your career in predicting the optimum climatic conditions for the sport.
Have you ever surfed during sunset? It’s always captivating to watch the sun descending and reflecting on the ocean’s surface. A peaceful moment indeed when you simply view, sit and relax on your surfboard.
6) Surfing helps you to get a natural tan
Don’t you love that sun-kissed appearance? Getting a naturally tanned look requires you to spend long hours outdoors. Surfing gives you an ample amount of Vitamin D and the much-desired tan while you enjoy breaking the waves.
Surfers tend to have spotless bronze skin. Simply apply your surf sunscreen and head straight to the water. So, surfing gives you perfect sunbath. This way you don’t need to try hard for a tan.
7) Surfing has a popular culture
The stereotypical surfer has long hair, bronze skin, and is a very friendly and relaxed person. So, it’s easy to befriend surfers and begin conversations with them about the waves and the weather. Surfers respect the ocean and focus on conserving it. So, surfing has a deep culture in terms of feelings and beliefs.
You get an opportunity to network with the chilled surfers’ community as you revel in the sport and share waves. When you’re on a surf holiday in an unfamiliar or a new place, chatting with people as you surf the waves together is a great way to socialise.
Conclusion
So, now you know why you should surf and make surfing a regular part of your lifestyle. So, what are you waiting for, click here to grab a map and discover various surfing cities in the world?
One of the best places to go surfing in the UK is Cornwall