Sailing Improves Your Mental Health
Of late, mental health has become a huge issue. Many would argue it has so with good reason. Taking care of your mental health is critical because mental health affects how you think, feel or act. The state of your mental health can determine how you cope with stress and how you relate to others, and also help you to make healthy choices, rather than damaging ones. Managing your mental health well can even assist you in combating some of the physical health problems related to mental health ones, such as heart attacks, which stress can bring on.
Taking good care of your mental health
Life moves at an extremely hectic pace, and the arrival of COVID-19 has placed many people under more stress than they might have already been feeling. As people work from home instead of serving their employers at their place of business, many are likely to have struggled with work-life balance. If not working from home, then people have had to go into their offices with the possibility of becoming infected with COVID-19 hanging over their heads.
One of the best ways to preserve mental health is to take holidays. A good holiday will relieve stress and allows you to take a break from responsibilities, obligations and commitments. The time away liberates you from the anxieties that have been causing your stress. You’re removing yourself from the places and situations that trigger the stress, which has the beneficial impact of diminishing the tendency to focus on thoughts that cause stress and, instead, allow you to concentrate on just enjoying yourself.
Preserving mental health with sailing
There are many different types of holidays you can take. Perhaps you want to go on a beach holiday and spend your time just relaxing on the golden sands of a Mediterranean country. Maybe your more of an explorer and would benefit from booking a city break and discovering all the jewels of one of the many fine cities there are out there in the world. If you’re an adventurer, a sports holiday, such as climbing or cycling, may be more preferential.
One holiday option which is especially beneficial for mental health is sailing abroad, which you can do by renting a boat on the website of online boat rental marketplace Borrowaboat. Proximity to water, especially to the sea, is related to improved mental health and greater stress relief. The air is cleaner and there’s a lot more sunlight by the sea.
Another one of the big reasons sailing is so good for mental wellbeingis the freedom and excitement being out on the sea offers. There’s a real sense of liberation as you stand on the deck, tasting the salt in the air, with the sea breezing blowing in your face and the boat rocking gently. Sailing creates a healthy environment in which people feel able to open up, contemplatedifficult areas of their life and try to overcome challenges they wouldn’t normally do so intheir life. It’s believed that we feel better when we’re closer to nature, which is why it also seems that being close to the sea is so good for our wellbeing.
Of course, you’re not likely to rent a boat by yourself, but rather with friends or family… possibly even go sailing with a sailing club. Whichever you choose, the point is that sailing encourages you to socialize. Being with others promotes wellbeing.
How sailing additionally benefits mental health
Being out on a boat might make you feel almost like a whole new person, such are the benefits, but this activity offers you benefits in other ways too. One of these is the opportunity to engage in watersports.
Swimming, for instance, is good for the joints, which is one of the reasons it’s such a popular recommendation as part of rehabilitative therapy. Whereas exercises such as running on a treadmill have a more punishing impact on the joints, swimming in the sea doesn’t because the water can cope with your weight and loosens the muscles. You won’t feel the distraction of aches and pains after a swim in the sea.
The benefits of swimming don’t’ end there, however. Like other forms of exercise, swimming releases feelgood hormones. which increase your levels of positivity and generate a sense of wellbeing. Research has also found that swimming can treat stress. Studies on rats have revealed that swimming can foster the growth of new cells in the part of the brain that reduces chronic stress, according to an online article on the website of international health insurance and healthcare group BUPA.
Note that swimming is good for your wellbeing whether you’re doing so indoors or outdoors, the latter also known as ‘wild swimming’. If you happen to be swimming in colder waters, your boating trip may be even more beneficial. Researchers have discovered that cold water swimming could also be a powerful treatment for depression. The theory is that the shock of the cold water helps the body to respond more positively to stress connected with depression and anxiety.
Taking care of your mental health is hugely important to navigate life more easily. To do that involves making time for yourself with holidays and relieving stress by performing activities conducive to this. Sailing, and swimming and other watersports, are all possible solutions. Getting yourself out on the water or in it will boost your wellbeing.