Fishing is a very popular recreational activity across the world. It is a relaxing hobby and the number of fishermen increases each passing day. But most of the people don’t realize that fishing is not only a hobby or a recreational activity, but also it supports both your mental and physical health. Whether you want to move away from modernity and return to nature or basically just to take some action, fishing is generally worth doing.
To be honest, most of these advantages continue after a fishing activity, which means that you’ll not only benefit from them while you are fishing, you’ll benefit from them after you come back as well. Here are 14 reasons why you should go fishing to support your health.
Being In Nature Help You Heal Faster
Robert S. Ulrich, a researcher from Sweden, found out that the inpatients which have undergone an operation in a hospital recover in different times based on their view outside their patient room windows in the early 1980s. After his studies, Ulrich noticed that the patients who have a view of a natural area covered with trees, flowers and other natural beauties healed faster compared to the patients who have a view of urban elements such as buildings, vehicles, etc.
In addition to this, the patients who have a view of a natural area found to be suffered less from post-operative pain and needed less pain medication compared to the second group. Following research studies have shown that a specific view like the view of trees or flowers is nothing to do with those recovery periods, rather, the view of natural habitat as a whole helps speed up the healing process as well as reducing the pain. This means you don’t need to go fishing in a foresty lake or river to benefit from its healing effects, all you need to do is to go fishing in any natural environment.
Fishing in Nature Helps Reduce Your Blood Pressure
When you go fishing, it means you will spend some time in nature. Although its exact reasons are not known, spending time in nature known to be helping to reduce your blood pressure. High blood pressure (hypertension) lead to several serious health issues and also increase your risk to have a heart attack, even a stroke. Besides, most of the medications that doctors prescribe to reduce your blood pressure cause negative side effects.
In addition, researches made have indicated that the advantages of spending time in nature last for some time even after the activity ends. And of course, you do not need to spend 10 hours fishing in order to benefit from its advantages. According to the studies, spending 30 minutes in nature per week helps you to reduce your blood pressure, even while spending more time outdoors is more beneficial.
Fishing Help You Burn Calories as a Low-Impact Activity
Exercising regularly helps you to lose pounds as well as get healthier. Actually, a study conducted in 2013 shows that nearly 70 percent of the people worldwide fail to get a sufficient amount of exercise. Being inactive does not only lead to extra pounds, but also can cause cardiovascular diseases, depressive periods, and several other illnesses. Luckily, going fishing can help you avoid these problems.
Well, you can not burn a large number of calories while fishing sitting on a rock drinking your beer. However, if you fish actively, you can burn up to 200 calories per hour, which is actually a significant amount.
Even an inactive fishing session will make you walk up and down a shoreline, cast fishing line and retrieve it. These all are activities help you to burn calories. Furthermore, if you end up to hook up a big fish, you will need to spend tons of energy retrieving it.
Fish Support a Healthy Diet
Most of the fishermen who do this as a recreational activity generally release the fish they catch, but in fact, you may get so much benefit from taking a few to home for dinner as the protein content of the fish is really high as well as they contain healthy fats. It is a low-fat food source with its health protein content, and it is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Besides, some fish species contain a good amount of vitamin D.
Both fishing and eating fish are enjoyable activities, however, you should follow the laws and regulations of your country and focus on hunting without affecting the ecological balance. As an example, you can fish many bluegills at a lake having a normal balanced fish population. In fact, by doing this, you will help the population stay balanced. However, if you fish too many wild trout, it will affect the fish population in a negative way as their population declining.
Fishing Is a Perfect Activity to Spend Time with Your Loved Ones
Probably the most meaningful thing in this life is spending time with your family and friends. Fishing ensures you to spend a lot of time with your loved ones. You will have a great time by taking your friends or family fishing with you.
Well, it will not be the same as when you fish alone, especially if you go fishing with inexperienced people. That is why you may want to go for more easily caught fish in a less compelling setting. You can obtain much information about taking your children fishing online.
And one of the most important things is making sure that your companions also catch fish as well. Even if they are not that successful, sharing moments and smiles will always help make up for it.
Fishing Helps You Remain Standing
According to health specialists, many people spend so much time sitting. In fact, more than half of the world spend their day sitting down. This, of course, is not good for your health. Researches show that sitting more than 6 7 hours a day, which is defined as excessive sitting, is associated with an 18% increase in the risk of dying due to cardiovascular problems, and a 17% increase in the risk of dying due to cancer.
On the other hand, fishing mostly compels you to stand up. Besides, you may need to walk for a few kilometers to find productive waters. That is why you should get up from your sofa, head to the nearest lake or sea and start fishing as standing.
Fishing Ensures You to Have Some Peace in a Quiet Environment
Most of the people suffer from anxiety and depression In the modern world because of the fact that we are repeatedly assaulted by noise and disorder from all directions. Let’s examine an average person’s daily routine: He gets up in the morning and drinks coffee watching the news, he rides to work listening some radio, he gets to work and deals with many stressful situations, he then gets back to the road to home suffering from the heavy traffic, and spends the rest of the day looking at digital screens. Well, all those can make a person mentally unstable and even suffer from mental diseases such as anxiety.
On the other hand, fishing helps you to get rid of the daily stress of urban life, and let your brain enjoy some silence and tranquility. Although fishing is not a silent activity, the environment in which you fish often has rather relaxing voices such as animal and plant sounds. Apart from that, the sound of the waves will function just like a medication session. You may also think about listening to relaxing music while fishing, this is a good alternative as well in terms of its positive effects on your mental health.
Fishing Help Improve Your Cognitive Skills as You Age
Unluckily, problems with memory and cognitive skills are often seen as a person gets old. Yet, the best method to keep your brain up to date is to keep it active with mentally awakening activities. And as all of we already know, fishing mostly requires mental challenges that need you to create innovative solutions.
Experts recommend going fishing as one of the best ways to contend with cognitive decline, which is something you should absolutely check. The three most important recommendations to support your brain activities are namely: keep learning all the time, use all of your senses and have confidence in yourself. You can accomplish all three by just fishing.
Sunshine Helps You Get in a Happy Mood
If you are not fortunate enough to have a job where you work outside, you presumably spend most of your day in the buildings. Since sunlight has several important benefits for your health, staying indoors is not actually an optimal working condition. If we want to give some example for the health benefits of the sunlight, it most importantly triggers the brain to release serotonin – the happy hormone. Serotonin functions to boost your mood and lead you to think happier. That is why if you can’t get enough sunlight, you may fall into depression.
Go fishing at the day time to get enough sunlight your body needs. But always try to remember to use safety methods against sunlight some of which are wearing sunglasses and applying sunscreen.
Fresh Air Help You Stay Healthy
Fishing in the fresh air helps you in several ways. The reason that asthma and respiratory allergens are frequently seen today is due to the inhalation of air containing harmful particles. As the time spent in fresh air increases, asthma and allergy disorders begin to decrease. The digestive system also needs oxygen to break down the food taken. Fresh air-plenty of oxygen ensures the proper functioning of the digestive tract. Serotonin production and uptake in the brain also depend mostly on oxygen. The enzymes responsible for the production of serotonin can be affected by low-quality oxygen intake, leading to feelings of depression and anxiety.
Oxygen is the body’s fuel. In order for all organs to function properly, the body needs plenty of oxygen. One of the most important tasks of oxygen for the body is to accelerate fat burning. Outdoors sports activities provide faster fat burning compared to indoor sports activities. The major factor in this is oxygen.
Sunshine Boost Your Immune System (Vitamin D Effect)
Fishing is an activity done outdoors. That means you will get a lot of sunlight while fishing. It should be noted that the most economical and most important source of vitamin D is the sun. Walking in a sunny environment for at least 15-20 minutes is sufficient to eliminate daily vitamin D deficiency. The amount of sunlight required depends on the age of the person, the skin color or the duration of sunbathing. The production of vitamin D in the skin decreases with increasing age. In individuals with darker skin color, long-term daylight is needed, especially in winter, for the formation of sufficient vitamin D in the skin.
Vitamin D plays a role in many important functions in the body, especially the bones. It provides the absorption of dietary calcium and phosphorus from the intestines. It maintains the balance of calcium and phosphorus in the body and prevents the secretion of parathyroid hormone that causes bone resorption. Vitamin D, which is necessary for the health of bones and muscles, is known to have a positive effect on the immune system. It also has a protective effect against hypertension, heart disease, certain types of cancer and immune system-related diseases.
Fishing Uplifts Your Self-Esteem
The fact that being in nature is a great way to heal your spirit, improve your mood, and improve your self-esteem has long been proven. It can be difficult to maintain your self-esteem and stay motivated by the way the world is today. But fishing offers you the opportunity to go out alone and do something tangible.
Catching fish, no matter how big or how small will boost your self-esteem. Each angler recalls their first catch. Just look at how their eyes light up when they talk about it.
Fishing Teaches You to Be Patient
Fishing is an activity that requires patience in the first place. Often you can’t catch a fish immediately after casting. It may even take hours to catch a single fish. That is why fishing teaches you to be patient.
To get benefit from that feature of fishing, you can put that learned patience into practice in your work and social life to get better results in every manner.
