William FowlerWho says maintaining good health can’t be fun! You don’t always need physically demeaning exercises, yoga, and difficult diet plans to stay fit and healthy. As a matter of fact, there are many exciting and interesting activities that offer impactful health benefits. One of those activities is called birdwatching or birding. Birding is one of the best and most effective activities to keep your inner self in the ideal order.
What Is Birding
In case you didn’t know, birding is an activity that people carry out for recreational purposes or scientific studies. The person who does birding on a regular basis for any purpose is called a birder. Bird watching has been existential since times immemorial. People have been enjoying watching the movements and behavior of the birds for a very long time. In fact, numerous inventions have taken place based on studies of the bird. However, what’s the best part of birdwatching is the health benefits it has to offer.
Here Are The Top Health Benefits Of Birding
Have you always liked birds, but are not sure if you should do some birding? Well, you can go through a birding guide to find all the details regarding it. However, as long as you are here, we have some great pieces of information for you regarding the health benefits of birding that will help you make up your mind and get started with it. Without further ado, let us fly right into it:
Cardio For Physical Fitness
Birdwatching is fun but not easy as cake. You will need to hike to remote places and mountains in order to find some special birds. By the time you reach the spot, you would have burnt a lot of your calories which is definitely very good for you. It’s quite like hiking with a clear purpose in mind. You will need to be constantly moving, jumping, climbing, and even running – which will actually work as the high-intensity cardio exercise. You already know what the great benefits of a good cardio routine are. You will feel fit, you won’t put on weight, your appetite will rise, and your body will also get in proper shape.
Fun Outdoor Quiz
You will be doing much more than just hiking. The big bulky binocular that birders carry along can weigh as much as small dumbbells. When you are lifting the binocular repeatedly and holding it in one position for 5 minutes or more to observe the birds, you may experience cramps in your arms. C’mon, you are going to be a birder; you should be able to keep the binoculars in one position for over an hour or so. This way, you will be building the muscle mass of your biceps. Isn’t that a great merit of birdwatching?
Have A Fresh Breath Of Air
Since you are in a remote location, surrounded by trees and plants, you are probably getting the best air there is to breathe. The air in most cities is polluted – which is not considered ideal for health. However, when you come to the forest for birdwatching, you breathe fresh air that awakens your internal bodily systems. The good air that you intake brings along a spate of benefits for your health, both physical and mental. Let us list some of them down for you to understand better:
- Fresh air will help improve your heart rate and blood pressure.
- Clean, oxygen-full air will enhance the effectiveness of your digestive system.
- You will feel a lot happier than you did earlier.
- If you take your time to do some Anulom Vilom during a little break from birding, you can clean your lungs and entire air track.
- You can strengthen your immune system with fresh air.
- You will also feel more energetic for tasks.
These are just some of the benefits that birders receive while observing birds in the fresh air. The list can go on and on.
Mental Benefits
So far, we have just discussed the physical benefits of birdwatching, but you must know there are great mental benefits too. Birding is defined as a calm, soothing, and peaceful maneuver that can help greatly reduce stress and boost motivation in individuals. The chirping of birds also helps people with depression and anxiety issues. As per the Doses of Neighborhood Nature, a study conducted by Exeter University, people who live in areas surrounded by birds have significantly better health than others.
Moreover, when you are birdwatching, you are actually exercising the mental faculties that help in sharpening your mind. Your skills to make observations and memory are also enhanced. All in all, we can say that birdwatching is completely mentally therapeutic.
Meditate Your Mind
Birding has great meditative qualities. You are looking at birds amid nature, under the skies, in the silence. There is nothing to distract you, no screens, nobody around, and no worries about work. Simply put, with birding, you get in a zone of your own, and you have nothing else running in your mind. After an hour of riding, you feel a sense of contentment that can’t be found anywhere else. This is the power of birding. It is making you more mindful every single day.
The Bottom Line
You will have to practice birding to get the best idea as to how birding functions. There will be a lot for you to explore. When the head bobs and tail flicks, you will feel a joy that won’t be visible anywhere else. Most importantly, there will be such great health benefits that you wouldn’t really need to spend money on a gym, equipment, or anything of that sort. You can get in touch with a birder and ask them what’s their way of doing it.
We hope the information we put up proves to be helpful to you. Which and how many birds have you got on your list for observation? It will be a great start for you, for sure. Make sure to give it your all; you may turn out to be the next big observer.
Jimmy Hubbs