6 Emotional Benefits Of Surfing
By Alex Harmon
You know the benefits of surfing on your physical health are epic - that strong core, the cardio workout and those guns that you should probably get a licence for. But if you’re truly immersed in surfing, the positive effects on your mind, emotions and wellbeing are immense. When surfing takes over your life and salt water runs through your veins, the emotional and mental health benefits are palpable. It’s an ethereal experience for your mind, body, soul, and if you’re anything like me and you dream about surfing, it can be an outer-body experience too.
Here are six of the emotional benefits of surfing…
Surfing Produces Joy
Catching a wave requires risk but it comes with great reward. When we conquer these walls of water our brain high fives us with a boost of dopamine - which we recognise as pleasure and joy. Or in surfer speak, we’re frothing. We’re not just chasing waves, we’re chasing that dopamine high. Surfers are addicts for this pleasure. And any partner who has been left high and dry for this will attest to the fact that it’s a proper addiction.
Prolonged Happiness
You know when you buy something new and it makes you happy for a short period of time before getting forgotten/neglected/placed in the pool room? Well, surfing has the incredible effect of sustaining your happiness, long after you’ve showered and put the board away. The high of catching a wave might only be seconds long but it lasts much longer than that in the mind. If you surf before work you’ll drift off at the computer screen with euphoria and you’ll go to bed replaying those peaks. Then, if you’re lucky you’ll dream about those waves too. Can a new pair of shoes do that?
More Flexible Thinking
When you learn to surf you have to be prepared for a lot of wipeouts. After the hundredth time of falling into the ocean and resurfacing you start to think that falling down isn’t so bad. Life all of a sudden doesn’t seem so serious. Even the littlest waves feel epic and even the hairiest wipeouts become hilarious. Your mind is slowly shaping, just like your body. When you’re as flexible as Gumby on the waves your mind follows. Suddenly all those little things that were weighing you down begin to feel lighter. Surfers get a bad rap for being overly chill - but in this rat race we live in, isn’t ‘being chill’ the nirvana we’re all eagerly chasing?
It Gives You a Sense of Belonging
When you take up surfing you also enter a new community of like-minded people. It’s likely that you’ll meet new friends from all walks of life, bonding over a shared passion, because let’s face it your other friends and even Susan from Accounts is going to get sick of you constantly talking about the swell. Your new surfing friends will be friends for life. You have your own language (yewwwww is the new hellloooooo) and you have a bond that is deeper than the ocean.
It’s a Way of De-Stressing
As they saying goes, no one ever regrets a surf. Even a bad surf can make you feel good, all thanks to the powers of the ocean. This long-lasting magic can boost your mood, helps you sleep, can wash your stresses away and can even boost your confidence in your day to day life. The stoke of surfing lifts your confidence like a penguin puffing out his chest. The only downside is when the surf is flat your mood may also flatline ... in extreme cases it might be time to take up pavement surfing...
It Helps You Seek Mindfulness
Surfing requires pure concentration, because mother nature waits for no one. You must be completely aware of your surroundings, your body and the ocean. This is a rare chance to be completely in the moment. Forget about work, the kids, the text you haven’t replied to. You’re mother nature’s bitch now. And guess what, this is a good thing. This mindfulness in action is so good for you and so rare. You’re meditating in the ocean and you’re completely in the zone. This isn’t just concentrating on the waves in line up, this reflects flow theory, as you’re being completely immersed in something. It’s one of the few times in life we’re not attached to a device. Completely unwired. The only thing you’re attached to out here is your legrope.
See you in the surf….