Tennis is a very popular sport, played around the world by people of all ages. It can be played by either two or four people. These players use rackets to hit a ball over a net and to the other side of the court. Tennis involves fast movements and strategy and can be played as a recreational activity or as a serious sport.
No matter how you go about playing it, though, tennis comes with a range of health benefits. It’s a great sport to play to maintain your health, strength, fitness, and agility. Research by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) shows that tennis players have better general, social, mental, and physical health.
Other than that, there are more health benefits to playing tennis, such as the following:
Full Body Workout
Unlike other sports, tennis provides an excellent workout for the entire body. With all the running around, jumping, sprinting, and crouching, your lower body can develop important leg muscles. Additionally, hitting the tennis ball, whether single- or double-handed, puts your torso to work. This means that you’ll have a stronger core, as well as more well-toned arm and back muscles.
Improved Aerobic Health
When playing tennis, your oxygen intake and heart rate increase, helping your blood deliver nutrients and oxygen to all your muscles. Tennis also helps your body develop a number of capillaries and capillary beds within your muscles, giving them better blood supply and flow and helping them perform better.
Boosts Brain Power and Mood
Tennis isn’t just about hitting balls. It requires the brain to be creative. Any game of tennis involves alertness, tactical thinking, planning, agility, and the coordination of different body parts. The good thing is that the more you play tennis, the better you become at these actions. Additionally, tennis requires a degree of strategizing and planning your moves, which can improve brain function and aid memory, social skills, behavior, and mood. Generally, tennis players have greater self-esteem and are more optimistic than non-players. They are also less anxious, less depressed, and less angry, on the overall than people who don’t play tennis.
Enhances Flexibility, Coordination, and Balance
Since tennis is a full-body sport, it requires the involvement of the whole body. When playing tennis, each body part has a task to do – the feet get you to the right position, the arms and hands move the racket so that it’ll hit the ball, and the torso gives you enough power to send the ball over the net. Each shot takes coordination, flexibility, and balance, which can give you a wider range of motion, help prevent injuries, and avoid muscle strain.
Burns Calories and Fat
As a whole-body sport, tennis involves a lot of running, reaching, and swinging. Since you’re constantly on the move, you can burn a lot of calories. In fact, one game of singles tennis burns around 420 calories for women and 600 calories for men.
Tennis is a sport that brings a lot of excitement, challenges, fulfillment, and joy. Not only is it a strategic mental game, but it is also a great sport that lets you have fun. So call up a tennis court contractor and build you a tennis court of your own!
