Scuba diving!! Not just fun but also very healthy!

01 May Scuba diving!! Not just fun but also very healthy!

Did you know that diving is not only an enjoyable and relaxing sport, it is also very healthy? Taking one of our Bali dive day trips will help you with your health. Yes! Besides enjoying the underwater world and observing the marine life, you are doing your body a favor. Want to stay in shape and not a big fan of the gym, then taking a dive day trip is the “must do” activity for you. Both your physical and mental fitness will increase will scuba diving.

Physical fitness, flexibility and strength

Our bodies are buoyant under water, making you feel weightless and not giving you the impression you are actually working out. But you are so wrong! Scuba diving provides a full body work-out, combining cardio and strength training to burn those calories. Due to the natural pressure of water and the currents that might occur during your dive, your muscles have to work harder. So, while you are observing the underwater world, feeling weightless, barely noticing that your body is constantly in motion, your muscles get toned, they lengthen, build strength, flexibility and develop endurance. Because you use a lot of different muscles when you swim, it can even wake up muscles you didn’t use for a while. Extra benefit compared to a work out on land, is that you hardly put any strain on your joints. So you’re less likely to get an injury.

Burn those calories!

Yes it might sound too good to be true, but we do burn a lot of calories while we are diving. Research done by PADI shows we burn an estimate of 600 calories per hour during an average shore dive in temperate water, that is the same as one hour of jogging! A fun dive from a boat in tropical waters burns around 300 calories. (That is about 3 bintangs and a nasi goreng). This might come as a surprise to a lot of divers, because it is not like you are out of breath like you are after a hour of jogging. The secret lies in thermoregulation. The majority of calories we burn daily are for thermoregulation. Our body will try to maintain a core temperature of 37 degrees. When we are exposed to temperatures lower than our body temperature, we put greater demand on our body’s thermoregulation and therefore burn more calories.

Good for heart, blood circulation and lungs!

Now that you are using all your muscles, they need a lot of oxygen. Your heart provides this oxygen in a regulated and smooth way through your blood. So you get a full cardiovascular workout and it helps lower your blood pressure at the same time. Studies show that those who dive regular are less likely to have a heart attack and strokes. Besides giving your heart a nice exercise, it also helps to keep your lungs fit. During diving we take deep breaths to take as much air in as possible, this makes your lungs expand to absorb more oxygen.

Stress reliever

The first thing you learn during your Open water course is to take slow and deep breaths; the way we breathe under water is similar to breathing while meditating. Both meditating and diving induces a relaxed and calm state, focusing on the underwater world and leaving our daily problems at the surface. This relaxing mode gives your body a chance to rest and brings your nervous system back to its natural balance. Having a calm state of mind has been proven to make you deal better with your issues, prevents depressions and gives you a positive attitude.

So, forget about the gym and join us for bali dive day trips at Joe’s gone diving.