Being both a sport and an adventure, scuba diving is an activity that will benefit your entire life. It can positively influence your physical fitness and can have a good effect on your mind too. It’s an opportunity to make long lasting connections. It’s an exploration of the countless beautiful natural wonders all over the world. All in all, it’s something that will definitely be worth your while, and here are just some of the reasons why you need to try diving.
1. Flexibility, strength and stamina
Diving can be beneficial to your physical fitness. While moving through the water, you activate all the parts of your muscles. The best thing about this is that you don’t get exhausted. The reason behind this is that the water provides buoyancy. It enables you to activate every inch of your active muscles. This, like swimming, can increase your flexibility and agility. This is especially the case in the leg and feet areas.
Diving is a great cardiovascular exercise as well. You improve your blood circulation by activating all your muscles simultaneously. While diving, your heart needs to supply oxygen to every working muscle. That results in a smooth and a regulated blood flow.
2. Try diving for stress relief
Diving can lower your stress levels, as it improves your circulatory and respiratory systems. It is a relaxing experience which can help soothe your mind as well.
Drifting through the water can give you feelings of great tranquility, satisfaction and fulfillment. It is a different view on the world, free from the mundane problems we encounter at work or home. The colors and shapes of the marine lifeforms make you forget about reality. That can have long-term positive effects on your psyche.
3. Improve your sense of focus
We love to admire the underwater world of corals and other marine life. But, we have to be careful not to touch or hurt any of it. This notion of being careful makes us concentrate hard to perform in the best possible way. We have to have synchronized motion of arms, legs and body.
Regardless of the weight, we need perfect balance for moving through the water. This kind of coordination helps us improve our concentration and awareness. This makes our minds clearer and more effective.
4. Try diving to appreciate nature and discover new places
The fact that there’s a lot more water than land surface on our earth makes you wonder. How much underwater territory is yet left unexplored? The diversity and intricateness of marine life can make one fall in love with nature all over again. There’s plenty of underwater flora and fauna. While diving, you can have close and intimate encounters with mesmerizing and unusual creatures. You’re able to bask in the glory of nature’s design.
When you begin your diving adventures, you’ll see countless beautiful destinations. Some people are there as tourists, others are able to see the fuller picture of a specific location. Explore the Great Barrier Reef of Australia, which is a popular scuba-diving destination. See the enchanting atolls of Maldives and its glorious and vibrant marine life. Discover secluded islands of Thailand, where diving around Koh Lipe will leave you breathless.
5. Building diving skills
If you’re after a feeling of accomplishment and progression, you’ll be pleased to hear this. You can take diving courses that determine your skill level. You begin with basic training, and progress to advanced and specialty courses. Specialty courses include search and rescue techniques, underwater naturalism, photography, and many more.
There are plenty of PADI courses available, including the specialist courses. After completing most of them, you can then train to become a scuba diving professional. You can even become a scuba diving master instructor. Diving can start off as a hobby, but it gives you the opportunity to grow and progress. You can make something that was once just a hobby, a profession.
6. Social benefits
Diving is powerful for making long-term connections and friends. You’ll immediately get to know people with different or similar areas of interest. They share the same passion for underwater exploration. Furthermore, while in the water, you’ll have your own dive buddy.
The dive buddy system keeps all divers safe and secure. They’re always looking one after another. It’s a great opportunity to make long-lasting connections with like-minded people. Who knows, you may meet your better half, or a career partner for your next business project. Inspiration and the relaxed atmosphere are the true prerequisites for social situations.
7. Complete freedom
Scuba diving gives you the luxury of staying underwater for long periods of time. You can completely give yourself to the ocean’s magnificence. You can explore the wonders of weightlessness. You can stare into the vastness of the underwater worlds. You’ll float around the creatures and plants, even shipwrecks and treasures.
Since you don’t have to come back for air, diving can also be a form of meditation. Vivid colors, together with intricate and complex structures, can make you feel calmer. You’ll go into a pleasant meditative state, free from the world’s daily troubles.
So, what are you waiting for? Start immersing yourself in the gorgeous world of scuba diving. It’ll change your life forever and that’s a promise.
Feeling inspired to explore the underwater world?
Check out all the PADI course options here.
This blog was originally written by Oscar Waterworth and published on the Diviac Magazine.
