What are the health benefits of snorkeling?
- Strengthens the Muscles
- Improves Cardiovascular Health
- Enhances Mental Health and Better Mood
- Improves Joint Mobility
- Encourages Concentration and Awareness
- Burn Calories
Unlike diving, snorkeling allows you to see the beauty of the underwater world without having to go deeper or leaving the surface of the waters. Head over to a dive resort in Batangas to experience swimming alongside marine life and reap the wealth of health benefits that come along with water activity. From muscle strengthening to improving cardiovascular health, here are some of the ways snorkeling rewards your overall wellbeing.
Strengthens the Muscles
Snorkeling is a water activity that allows you to work out your whole body. Your leg and arm movement forces your muscles to push against the natural flow of water. Snorkeling with fins provides an even better work out for your legs due to the increased resistance of the fins. To overcome your natural buoyancy, you kick harder and paddle your legs a little faster to go deeper below the surface. With this, you burn fat and strengthen your muscles.
Improves Cardiovascular Health
As you explore underwater and paddle to resist the water flow to reach your destination, your heart rate increases. The increasing rate at a healthy pace allows the heart to be stronger. This ends up reducing the risk of heart problems such as coronary heart disease and heart failure. Apart from that, you also reduce the chances of having high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Snorkeling enables you to build greater lung capacity, especially when you are forced to hold your breath underwater for long periods of time.
Enhances Mental Health and Better Mood
Snorkeling helps relieve anxiety and stress. It is a water activity that triggers the release of endorphins, a chemical responsible for making a person feel better. Meditation is another thing that snorkeling allows your mind and body to do. Since you are holding your breath underwater, you are controlling your breathing which relaxes the mind just like meditation does but even better because you are underwater.
The underwater flow calms the body and makes it feel more at ease. For some divers, snorkeling feels like flying but underwater, you get to use both arms and legs, as well as your entire body to get from one point to another.
Improves Joint Mobility
For those who suffer from obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, and other issues caused by inflammation such as neck problems, try snorkeling. The water activity is an excellent option for people whose mobility is limited. Since you are submerged underwater, your buoyancy prevents the pressure of your body weight against your joints. With that, the pain is relieved.
Encourages Concentration and Awareness
When you are underwater, you are forced to concentrate and be aware of your surroundings so that you do not lose sight of the people you snorkel with. Snorkeling is a water activity that allows you to develop those skills and at the same time have an unparalleled view of the underwater.
Apart from being aware of your companions, you also become aware of the nature that is under the waters. Truly, the sea is already amazing looking down from the surface. Yet, the beauty of marine life underwater is something that you have to witness at least once in your life.
Burn Calories
With all the paddling to resist the waters and to get to your destination, you are burning up more calories than you think. Work out your glutes as you flutter kick and use your arms to advance forward faster. Your quads and hamstrings are also used to propel you through the water. The great thing about snorkeling is that you exercise without getting sweaty and at the same time entranced by the underwater scenery.
The calories you burn depend on your weight and the duration of hours or minutes you are underwater. For instance, a person weighing 121 pounds who spends 60 minutes snorkeling in the water during intervals should burn at least 322 calories.
Key Takeaway
A dive resort in Batangas is all you need to relax and rewind after a week, a month or a year of working. As much as you enjoy the view from above mean sea level, diving deeper into the water should allow you to appreciate the beauty of marine life. Apart from that, you also reap the wealth of health benefits, mentally and physically.