Water sports are well-known for the positive impact they can have on one’s health, not to mention the great level of fun they come with. One example of water sport that has proven to offer a wide range of health advantages if kayaking. If you have never tried this type of activity in the past, you probably don’t know much about it, especially when it comes to its connection to health, so gaining a few sights on the topic might help you decide if this sport is actually something worth trying or not. Here are a few ways in which kayaking can influence your health and fitness level:
Calorie burn – weight loss
When you are trying to lose a few pounds, but regular workouts and forms of exercise do not appeal to you, finding a more enjoyable option of losing weight is of course one of your desires. Once you start documenting yourself on the subject, you will discover that this sport can provide remarkable results in this department. Moving a kayak at 5 miles per hour for example, will require somewhere around 0,1 hp of effort. This means an entire hour of kayaking can help you burn even up to 400-500 calories, which is certainly an appealing prospect. Moreover, researchers have recently stated that this sport can be more effective in burning calories than cycling, speeding up your overall weight loss journey. Although, when first engaging in this type of sport, you will need to start at a more relaxed pace, and thus use the best sit-on-top kayak in order to acquire some skills, by practicing with regularity, you can quickly move on to a more physically-demanding form of paddling. Make it part of your lifestyle, and staying fit will no longer be such a challenging goal.
Stress reduction
Stress has become such an aggravating issue nowadays, an increasing number of people dealing with this issue on a regular basis. If you are under a high level of stress currently, your quality of life has probably been affected, and your health might be slowly deteriorating without you even realizing it. Regardless of what might be producing you stress, finding ways to make a positive change in this department is recommended. Because this sport brings you closer to nature and it also stimulates your interest, and captures your entire attention, fully relaxing will be made possible. Regardless if you kayak for just an hour or more, during that period of time, you will manage forgetting all about whatever was causing you stress, and leave you with positive vibes afterwards. In the long run, it will help you escape this unpleasant issue entirely, and contribute to your overall state of happiness and well-being.
Upper body fitness workout
Paddling demands the execution of good strokes, action that will incorporate almost every muscle in your upper body. In just a single hour, at a 3 miles per hours pace, you will be doing somewhere around 1,500 repetitions of movements that focus on the upper body. Even if the strokes will be low impact ones, they will still improve your level of fitness in this department tremendously.
Core strengthening
During paddles strokes, you will need to control both your lower muscles and abdominal muscles, in order to maintain your balance on water. Because the constant turning of the kayak in one direction or another will demand the shifting of your core area, strengthen abdominal an upper body muscles will be a natural outcome. Those who pursue this type of sport with regularity have the chance to build this area, and achieve better results faster than they normally would by working out at the gym.
Mental health
Any type of aerobic excursive, according to studies, will trigger the brain into real sing chemicals that can boost your mood and state of mind. Considering kayaking involves aerobic movements, after engaging in this type of activity you will automatically notice a positive change in your mood. Regardless if you are dealing with anxiety, depression episodes or other similar problems, this type of relaxing workout can bring surprising results in this department.
Heart health improvement
Due to continuous movements, your heart rate will be raised while you are paddling, which will have a great role in terms of cardiovascular health increase. Whether you have been having such a medical issue or not, this factor is certainly one worth your attention, and with canoeing part of your life, the odds of facing a potential cardiovascular condition will be lowered
It’s fun!
Putting aside how much this sport can actually positively influence your health and fitness, what makes it so appealing for many people is the fun side of it. The rush of adrenaline and enjoyment you will experience while paddling is certainly not something that just any sport can bring. While you will be accessing so many advantages health-wise, the entertainment revolving around this activity is what will ultimately be the one to draw your interest. Even just by watching a few voids of professional kayakers, you will be tempted to give it a try for yourself. Although the sport can easily become an extreme one, in certain conditions, as long as you start at a slow, relaxing peace, and level up once you gain experience, you will definitely have a blast each time you hop on your kayak. And remember, fun is an essential factor for a healthy way of living!
Considering these aspects, you can conclude for yourself that kayaking is in fact a sport to consider, if you want to keep your health and fitness level in check. Taking into account how entertaining and exciting it can become once you get the hang of it, you will most certainly turn it into one of your favorite hobbies sooner or later. Although these health benefits might be provided by other types of sports as well, what makes kayaking different is its time efficiency, giving you the possibility to improve your health and fitness much more rapidly than many other forms of physical activity.
