Working at the gym for a long time could be a daunting task. While, may not be able to adhere to early morning gym rules, for those who do, boredom starts to take over. Well, it is said that “Boredom is the birthplace of curiosity”, so if you are curious about how you should deal with boredom, we have an alternative for you. Switching towards sports could be a viable option, especially towards Badminton. One of the most beginner-friendly games with pain-less rules, Badminton offers you exclusive health and mental benefits that you may not be able to overlook. This article discusses how badminton can help us get a fresh outlook on maintaining health except for a Gym.
Benefits of playing badminton:
Badminton involves quick movements in court helping to regulate your body fat, blood pressure, cholesterol level, and flexibility of muscles. It even plays a role in increasing your life expectancy as it strengthens the cells from the core. Find out more below:
1# A Good Cardio
The heart is the centerpiece of the human body and arguably the most important organ. Life ceases to exist without a functional heart. Badminton offers exclusive benefits for your heart. It burns all the ‘Bad Cholesterol’ that has clogged in your blood vessels and it may help regain the levels of healthy Cholesterol. Due to this, blood pressure gets smooth, reducing the risks of any heart stroke as well as low or high blood pressure conditions.
2# Protection against Diabetes:
Badminton improves your Diabetes condition by burning all the bad sugar and strengthening the liver enough to create enough insulin as the body needs. When production from the liver gets sorted, the levels of ‘bad sugar’ automatically drop across the whole body improving your white blood cells too.
3# Badminton as a Full Body Workout:
Badminton contains all sorts of movements that you may perform intentionally in the Gym. This could include running, squatting, leaning for flexibility, etc. Badminton improves your health by activating the muscles of your whole body, getting the heart to pump blood, and strengthening the core of your body. The play not only builds a proper structure of your muscles but helps form new connections in muscle fibers massing more muscle weight. Whether you are working on your stamina or improving the hamstrings, badminton has it all for you. To add, if your goal is weight loss, the game will boost your metabolism, burning all unwanted fat and making you smart as before. In short, badminton benefits weight loss.
4# Improves Flexibility:
Badminton requires you to swing and smash hard. All the serves and rallies help build a more tensile body structure. The jumps, leaps, and swings will strengthen your ligaments securing them from tearing apart and improving your flexibility of the body.
5# Improves Bone health:
Playing badminton regularly could strengthen your bones, reducing the risks of bone fractures. It does so by improving the body density i.e. calcium density in our bones. The sport is very beneficial especially for young kids who are still in the growth phase. It will help them build a better body structure of better quality.
Psychological benefits of playing badminton:
After we are done with the health benefits of badminton, it’s time to learn about how badminton can help in non-physical aspects of life. Below are some psychological benefits of badminton:
1# Socializing:
As you may know, badminton is not a sole playing game. It is played in pairs of two or four. Moreover, it is played nearby, unlike cricket or football. It could be an opportunity for you to develop your social relations by working with your friends toward a common shared goal of winning. You plan together and execute together which helps to build synergy. Moreover, there may be disagreements and conflicts, hence resolving them in playfield could give you enough ability to resolve conflicts in real life. A great source of fun and leisure, Badminton provides you time and space to connect with people that may have been difficult due to increased workload or heft work timings.
2# Improved Mental Well-being:
Badminton help you feel good by releasing endorphins in your body. This may help you in controlling depression, anxiety, and stress. Moreover, it may help you in building better sleep cycles as this is a growing concern nowadays. Badminton helps in developing mental agility, it provides you an opportunity to master your nerves, and learn to tackle pressure. It also improves your decision-making process. Moreover, it improves your reflexes as the shuttle travels across 350 km/h, so countering the strike at this speed requires a quick decision and a timely execution. Furthermore, badminton helps in boosting your self-confidence and self-esteem. When you know you are involved in a positive activity that will ultimately benefit your health, it helps you to be more active and passionate about the game, thus improving your productivity as well.
3# Strategic Thinking and Decision making:
Badminton requires you to develop a good action plan right before the game. It will require a ‘SWOT’ (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat ) analysis of the situation. To describe, you need to find the weaknesses of your opponent, realize the opportunities, evaluate the threats and play on your strengths. This methodology will help make you a Strategic thinker, effectively boosting your decision-making process and judgment. Moreover, it will help strengthen your analytical capabilities too.
Disadvantages of playing badminton:
After the benefits portion, we must realize there are some disadvantages of playing Badminton too.
Some of them are mentioned below:
- It is a very fast-paced game and action could be intense. Beginners could be short of breath while playing this. Moreover, you may feel dizziness after the game. But, these problems last only at the start. Once you develop your stamina, you will not face these conditions.
- There are chances that you might strain your muscles in play while in some cases, a fracture could also result. This may be due to weak body structure or improper body movements. The common injuries are triceps and hamstrings. If you follow the rules and recommendations, you should not be worried about it. Another recommendation would be doing a proper warm-up before the sport.
Other than these, badminton is fun to play and you will certainly enjoy it. These disadvantages happen in most physical games. So, don’t let disadvantages shadow the standout health benefits of playing badminton or how badminton help us.
