5 Reasons Why Fishing is Good for Your Health

Spending the day fishing with your family in the great outdoors can be a fantastic way to create lifelong memories, but did you know that fishing can offer quite a few health benefits too? Check out five reasons why fishing is good for your health, including one or two reasons that might surprise you.

1. Boosts Vitamin D Through Sunlight

One of the best sources of vitamin D is natural sunlight. Vitamin D is important because it helps your body absorb calcium and phosphorus, which are two minerals that contribute to immune system function and help fight against disease. Among the many benefits of fishing is the fact that you’re soaking up vitamin D from the sunlight on every fishing trip you take.

2. Relaxation and Family Bonding

Spending time out in nature promotes relaxation and offers many of the same benefits that meditation does, such as reduced blood pressure and decreased anxiety. In fact, studies have shown that fishing is good for your mental health because it can lower your cortisol levels (your body's main stress hormone). The benefits of fishing for mental health can last for up to three weeks after a fishing trip. Beyond the rewards of relaxation, family fishing trips also give you the opportunity to bond over the thrill of a catch while taking a break from cell phones and electronic devices.

3. Encourages Patience

You don’t usually drop a line in the water and catch a fish right away. Some days the bite can be slow and challenging, but when you persist through those slow periods, the experience makes you a more patient person. Learning patience through fishing is good for your mental health because it can encourage you to be calmer and more content.

4. Improve Cardiovascular Health

Is fishing good for your health from a cardiovascular standpoint? Absolutely, fishing can burn an average of 200 calories per hour, depending on the type of fishing you choose to do. This might not hold true if you sit in a chair on the beach with your rod in a sand spike rod holder next to you, but if you walk around to different fishing spots while consistently casting out a line, you are burning calories and putting your heart to work.

5. Healthy Meals

If you have a fishing license and the fish you catch are within the regulations, you may want to prepare one or two fillets for dinner. Certain fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as wild Alaskan salmon or halibut, which can reduce the risk of stroke and decrease blood pressure. Another one of the many reasons why people like fishing is because it feels so rewarding to prepare a healthy meal from fresh fish that you just caught.