Do you know the benefits of freediving for the health of your body & your mind.
Here are 10 ways that show you how beneficial freediving can be to your health?
1. Lowers anxiety and stress.
Much like Yoga, concentrating on slowing down your heart rate and holding in your breath results in lower levels of stress and anxiety. These lowered stress levels last even when you are out of the water and not actively freediving.
2. Increases self-confidence.
Freediving also boosts self-confidence. Freedivers have a significantly higher belief in the internal locus of control. This means they believe that they have more control over events in their own lives. Clearly, diving deep underwater on a single breath is a great confidence booster for the rest of your life!
3. Enhances blood oxygen management.
The more you practice freediving, the better your body becomes at using oxygen efficiently. When you submerge for an extended period of time, your body will go into the mammalian dive reflex. This is a natural phenomenon in all mammals, where the body optimizes respiration, slows the heart rate, and redirects oxygen to the vital organs. This reflex also causes the spleen to release extra red blood cells into the body.
4. People who practice a lot of deep-dive training have a similar blood composition to those that live at high altitude.
Their bodies adapt to the harsh environment and become more efficient at using oxygen.
5. Clears your mind.
Similar to a form of meditation, freediving requires an extreme focus on one thing at a time. When diving, all your daily distractions melt away as you focus intently on the dive. The lack of sound and other sensory diversions truly present a unique environment for clearing your headspace of any other worries.
6. Increases ability in other water sports.
Whether it’s surfing, scuba diving, swimming, or kayaking, freediving will teach you to remain calm in the water, and not panic if you get into a rough situation. Being able to hold your breath for a long period of time is a useful skill for any water sport, and could someday mean the difference between life and death.
7. Increases flexibility.
The deep breathing required for freediving requires good flexibility in the thoracic region (from the base of the neck to the abdomen). In fact, the more flexible your thoracic region is the more you will be able to inhale with a maximum breath. Because of this, freediving training focuses on increasing flexibility in the back and neck. Another area of training focus is breathing exercises that focus on diaphragm expansion.
8. Good for joints.
When you are underwater, hydrostatic pressure is exerted over your entire body from the weight of the water. This means swelling in joints is reduced, so people with swollen joints from injuries or arthritis are often able to exercise without pain underwater.
9. Boosts feel-good neurotransmitters.
Adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine are greatly elevated during and after freediving. The enhanced levels of neurotransmitters in freedivers accounts for the enhanced red blood cell function that freedivers require.
10. Better Body Composition.
An improved physique is another one of the health benefits from freediving. There is no doubt that freediving is a great way to get into shape. All you have to do is take a look at the incredible physiques of freedivers like our own JP, Freediving Instructor at Big Blue Freediving. Much like hard exercise, freediving is a form of ‘eustress’ for the body. This means it stresses the system just enough to produce positive benefits when repeated over the long term.
If you are interested in learning the art of Freediving while increasing your health then pop in and see us or drop us a line. We can’t wait to show you how great you’re going to feel!
