It’s never too late to start playing tennis and enjoy its many advantages, even if you have never picked up a racket before or it has accumulated some dust in the cupboard for a while. Tennis is a good sport for maintaining your health because of its unique challenges it offers and because it is open to people of all levels and abilities.
Here are some important facts you should know regarding how tennis can enhance your general health, fitness, strength, agility and most importantly your happiness!
Mental Wellbeing:
- Boosts Brain Power
Tennis helps strengthen brain connections that enhance critical thinking, mental acuity, and tactical thinking. Serotonin is a brain chemical associated to processes like mood, appetite, and sleep cycle. Tennis helps control serotonin levels.
- Stress Relief
We all experience different types of stressors in our daily lives, but tennis is a great method to help with this. Tennis improves our focus and discipline on court, which can benefit and transfer to our daily routines. It takes away your mind from all the worries and forces your attention to concentrate on the activity at hand.
- The Perfect Social Activity
Tennis can be played with a partner or an opponent, depending if you play singles or doubles match, or even a fun hit. The ability to interact with partners or opponents is a big advantage of the game. Additionally, people who have the same objectives and interests surround you, which is incredibly satisfying physiologically. It is also a great way for young players to meet people, enhance their social skills and have fun on court!
Physical Health:
- Agility, Flexibility, Strength & Balance
Ever wonder how top professional athletes get so low or reach out so far to a ball to keep it in play? With years of training, their bodies have adapted to fit the style of tennis. This also applies to people of all levels that play regularly. Tennis requires a lot of movement, change of direction and muscle stretching. Therefore, the more you practice on court, the more your flexibility, agility, muscle tone and strength will improve too. As every part of the body is in action when you play, it is crucial to warm up the muscles thoroughly before a session and stretch them out after to maintain flexibility and avoid injuries.
- Medical Benefits
Playing tennis regularly increases aerobic capacities, lowers resting heart rate and blood pressure, improves metabolic function and increases bone density. It is also helps to prevent and fight diseases as it aids in regulating your lipid profile and lowering cholesterol. This can reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and stroke.
- Weight loss
Tennis is a fantastic way of getting in a great cardio workout, especially if you play singles. Your entire body is continuously in motion as you run, pivot, stretch and move. For recreational players, an hour-long match of singles is estimated to burn about 600 calories for men and 420 calories for women, and on a more competitive level, players can burn between 768 and 1,728 calories during a two-hour singles match. Ultimately, tennis is a terrific strategy to reduce body fat; for instance, it takes 3,500 calories in order to lose 1 pound of fat.
How To Avoid Injuries:
Tennis is a highly demanding activity on the body and challenges may be faced, just as in any other sport. However, they can be dealt with or prevented altogether if the right precautions are taken. Here, is how you can help protect yourself from injury:
- Refrain from playing if you have an injury or illness, and if you are unsure, speak to a doctor or physiotherapist.
- Tennis injuries occasionally result from repetitive motions.
- Remember to warm up the muscles and joints before playing tennis.
- Stretching out or following a cool-down method after you have finished is equally as important. It allows your muscles to relax and recuperate.
- Make sure to drink plenty of water before, during and after the tennis session. This avoids dehydration.
- Play at a level appropriate to your age and physical condition.
- If the court conditions are damp, think about playing indoors or postponing your tennis session, especially if the surface is slippery.
A Unique Sport That Can Be Played A Lifetime
Tennis, in contrast to most sports, can be played at any age. It’s rare to see seniors at the age of 60 or above running around a soccer field or a basketball court. However, a lot of retirees continue to play and love tennis, which makes it so unique. This is a sport that is extremely satisfying and advantageous to play because of the distinctive challenges it brings. As we all know, physical activity produces a variety of positive effects on our bodies and minds. As it is a very physically and mentally demanding sport, mastering the game requires a lot of dedication, and that is why tennis is so popular and why players continue to frequently come back to the courts throughout their entire lives.
