Love to play ping pong? Now, here are some more reasons why playing this fast passed sport, is going to help your mind and body, in more than one way.
In our fast paced world, we all look forward to good health, mental fitness and great agility. If this can be achieved while you do something you really love – wouldn’t that be simply wonderful? This is possible only when you play the sport of ping pong. You might choose to play singles or doubles – if you play consistently, you will realize how good it is for your mental and physical health.
How Playing Ping Pong Helps Your Health
So, how can an entertaining sport like ping pong, help your health?
The reason is simple – you do not have to coax yourself to play the game, because you love playing the sports. The sport is often played between friends, cousins and neighbors during weekends or special occasions. Since, this is a fast paced game; it involves massive utilization of different muscles. If you are not a gym lover but you know you need to exercise to stay healthy and fit, spending time in the gym often turns frustrating and difficult. Those who visit the gym on a regular basis will agree that with better muscle utilization, and fast movement, there is a possibility to lose weight and gain muscle strength.
However, visiting the gym and spending time to workout often gets tiresome and people lack the energy to workout after a long day. However, if it is a game of ping pong no one likes to avoid. People love to play the sport – in a way, doing well for their health.
Thus, playing the sport for even one hour in a day is excellent for your overall health and body. Now, let us understand about the healthy benefits of ping pong.
Improve Your Body-Coordination
Ping Pong is one of those sports which help our health in more than one way. There are a few body movements which improve if you play the game on a regular basis. When you play this sport, you are able to improve your hands and eye coordination. Can you think of any other way to improve this? It is not just about improving your hand eye-coordination and it helps in building stimulation, mental alertness. This is just perfect for youngsters which help them to sharpen their reflexes. It is also immensely helpful for elders to refine tactics.
- Helps In Improving Balance – Elders often face plenty of difficulties to stay balanced. If they need to change their direction quickly, it often gets difficult. Body balance is known to improve a lot when ping pong is played regularly.
Helps To Lose Weight
If you are overweight or you are aware that you need to lose some quick calories, you need to burn calories. Besides maintaining a healthy diet, some kind of physical exercise is also necessary. This gets tough for many people, as they start losing motivation to workout faster. However, when a person starts to play ping pong, there is a scope to burn as much as 272 calories in an hour. Indeed, this is an addictive and entertaining sport, which is not just fun but good for health as well.
Helps In Keeping The Brain Sharp
One of the healthy benefits of ping pong is its ability to keep the brain sharp and focused. Playing the game helps in increasing motor skills. It helps in building cognitive awareness. A number of clinical studies in Japan, has revealed that people who play table tennis on a daily basis, have an increased blood flow. This also helps in reducing the risk of dementia in individuals.
- Stimulates Brain Functioning: It is found that playing ping pong on a regular basis, helps in stimulating different parts of the brain. As one focuses on the opponent’s shot and posture, it helps the player develop prefrontal cortex, which is essential for strategic planning. This is a kind of aerobic exercise which helps in stimulating the functioning of the brain. Playing the game on a regular basis, helps in deriving long term benefits.
- Mental Acuity Develop – The sport of ping pong is all about speed, placement and spin. This is all crucial in developing the mental acuity of the game. Players develop great skill in creating and developing puzzles. Mental acuity improves without medicines.
- Relieves Anxiety and Stress – If you wish to rewind after a stressful day, all you need to do is play the sport. Ping Pong is a great stress buster. Instead of taking pills and medicines to fight anxiety and depression, why not spend sometime in playing the sport. You will notice the difference in a short time.
- Improves Concentration – A lot of focus and awareness is necessary when you play ping pong. Those who face problems related to building focus and concentration should start playing ping pong on a regular basis. It helps in building attentiveness and also calms the mind.
Improves Muscle Strength
What is the best way to improve the strength of your muscles?
No – you do not have to sweat it out in the gym, though it is one of the most accepted ways of improving muscle strength and agility. This is one of the most accepted fun game, played all over the world and known to involve the most number of muscles which help in strengthening the muscles. Table tennis is one of those games which will not hurt your joints. It is a great sport which helps in building your core muscle strength, helps in working out all crucial muscles of your arms and legs as well. With regular practice of the game, you will be able to build your core strength. When a person plays ping pong, there are a number of twisting motions involved. This helps in improving flexibility and smoothes the joints.
Ping Pong is one of those games which help in building your social circle as well. It’s the age of tablets and mobile phones, when people love to play games in your mobile devices. People have actually stopped meeting and interacting with one another. However, Ping Pong is bringing a complete change in this. Since, playing the sport with your friends and relatives is always thrilling, you will have an inclination to call upon your friends. Thus, with this game, you will be able to improve your social circle. Improving your social skills helps in staying relaxed, happy and entertained. If you are still not playing the sport, try it at least once. And when the weather is beautiful, go out and play ping pong with your friends, so you can have fun and enjoy mastering the game.