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If your doctor ever advised you to breathe in the fresh air every other day, you probably thought of walking around the nearby park. However, there’s something more interesting yet more beneficial for your health that can help you soak in the purity of nature. You probably know what we’re talking about – kayaking.
Kayaking offers you benefits in different dimensions. Firstly, you get to explore nature in a different way – out there in the middle of the lake, all alone. Secondly, it needs physical effort, so it’s beneficial for your health, as well. Lastly, it’s super exciting if you take it as a sport with your pals!
If you are wondering if you really need to go kayaking once in a while, let us tell you 7 benefits of kayaking that surely will lure you into packing your kayaking gears!
Excited? Let’s find out!
What is Kayaking?
Kayaking is an aquatic sport that involves a small boat that runs on paddling with a double-bladed oar. The boats come in different shapes and sizes, the popular one being an enclosed one that hides your legs.
There are different types of kayaks in the market. These are made of different size, metals, and purpose such as inflatable kayak, recreational kayaks, site top kayak. People use according to their needs. Nowadays some kayaks have to install a trolling motors to get more speed.
7 Benefits of kayaking for fitness
Although you can literally wonder where to stop when listing down the benefits of kayaking, we tried to pick the best benefits you should definitely know. Here’s what we have found!
1. You Can Lose Weight
Are you struggling to match your weight with your BMI? Well, most people do! Apart from cutting your diet, you do need to move your body to bring down that weight bar. That’s where kayaking comes into play! If you are paddling at a speed of 5 mph, you can easily burn up to 500 calories an hour!
That’s more than what you can burn on the treadmill at home! On average, people tend to spend about an hour or so kayaking, so that suggests that if you can maintain the speed and effort, it’s pretty easy to burn up to 1200 calories if you are riding for a couple of hours.
2. Your Upper Body Muscles Will Be Toned
Since you are mostly going to use your upper body (with both your hands) for paddling, you are definitely going to see a positive change in that region. It’s going to tone the total upper body muscles and also strengthen the chest and abdominal area. Moreover, you can improve the muscles of your back and shoulder, as well.
Interestingly, even if you think that the lower body is not moving significantly, it’s actually putting much effort to keep the balance of your body on the kayak. This way, your legs, and thighs are also in a constant application and get improved, as well.
3. It improves Your Cardiac Health
Of course, you do know that this is quite an obvious outcome of regular kayaking. The more you kayak on a regular basis, the better your cardiac health is going to be. You are constantly breathing in more oxygen than usual and forcing your body to produce more carbon dioxide as you are panting.
This makes your heart work more intensively than usual, and it pumps blood pretty fast. That’s why the heart performs faster, and thus it becomes healthier.
4. Kayaking Improves Your Stamina
Another significant benefit of kayaking is it improves your stamina to a whole new level. Yes, running is by far the most effective way to increase your stamina; however, kayaking can offer a notable contribution, too! As you are kayaking, it’s not a gentle floating all the time. You need to paddle your way forward constantly.
This pretty effectively develops the stamina of your body and allows you to perform even better in physical tasks in the future. If you are kayaking at a 5-mph speed, 3 times a week, it’s possible that you can increase your stamina by 20%! Now, that’s an improvement!
5. It Reduces Stress
Nothing can bring down the stress level like a simple walk in the charming, calm pathway. If that can help you reduce stress, imagine what effect kayaking can leave in your mind! When kayaking, you are literally paddling through the calm and quiet realm of a peaceful aquatic world. The morning sunshine, the splashing sound of the water, the chirping bird, and the soothing sound of the paddle are enough to drag down your stress level to zero.
That’s why even doctors nowadays prefer people with stress issues to try out kayaking. It actually has a tremendous effect on controlling mental pressure.
6. Kayaking Improves Focus
Now, this benefit is something that you can’t measure. If you are kayaking, you need to make sure that you are focusing on paddling more than anything else. This way, your body responds to your focusing ability and releases chemicals like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine – which work to improve focus.
This is why regular kayaking amidst a heavy workload can work as a tonic when you get back to your jobs. You can focus better than usual.
7. It Helps Improve Social Bonding
Modern-day kayaking is mostly arranged in groups. Several organizations actually arrange everything you need, from kayak boats to gears you use. So, basically, people go out kayaking with friends and families.
You can take this time out to increase the bonding between your F&F. This is an absolutely fascinating opportunity to meet and greet your pals and share your thoughts and hang out. In this way, you can mingle more with your close ones and improve the social bonding among you people.
Final Words
As you can see, kayaking has both mental and physical benefits that may prove to improve your overall lifestyle. It’s not just a sport or a hangout plan; it’s a total solution to your lack of physical activity and mental stress.
Going out kayaking once or twice a week can quite surely prove to be immensely beneficial for your psychophysical health. So, what are you waiting for?
Grab your gears today and jump into your kayak, and paddle your way towards inner peace!
