With watching sports and getting sports training becoming very accessible to us, it is no wonder many people want to take up one. In this digital age, getting good physical exercise is a necessity. There are so many sports and games that you can play to maintain physical health. However, table tennis trumps most of them in many aspects!
What is Table Tennis?
This is both an indoor or outdoor sport that is also called ping-pong or whiff-whaff. It is quite popular and played a lot across many countries. It consists of a lightweight ball called a ping-pong ball which is to be hit back and forth across a sturdy and hard table with a small net. The tables can be foldable or fixed, although the foldable ones are more convenient and more popular in recent times.
The ball should be struck with a bounce off the table and it should not touch the net. If the ball is whipped out by the opponent or you do not follow the rules, the opponent scores a point. This is a game that generally requires a lot of concentration and fast reflexes.
There are finer techniques like giving the ball a spin to change the trajectory to confuse the opponents. The sport is highly enjoyable and can be played by people of all ages. Many families have been seen playing this when cooped up during the lockdown recently. There have also been cases of cute grandpas and grandmas playing this skilfully.
There are both physical and mental health benefits to playing table tennis regularly. The physical benefits are that your stamina gets a huge boost, your reflexes become quicker, and you would loosen and exercise most of the muscles of your body energizing you. If you want more information, check out the PingPongBeast website for more details.
Mental Benefits of Table Tennis
1. Increases concentration
Table tennis is all about keeping your eyes on the tiny, light-weighted ball. Hence, your eye movements and peripheral vision improve along with your concentration. You would learn to zone out your surroundings and focus on the ball and its movements.
This makes your focus and concentration really sharp in the long run. Hence, playing table tennis is said to boost a person’s concentration power, hence, this exercise is often recommended for kids.
2. Helps you strategize better
The game is ultimately about hitting the ball properly and defending your side properly, such that the ball doesn’t fall off. However, as you get better at the game, you have to start thinking of bettering your technique or using strategy to beat your opponent at the game.
You will understand which corner is preferred by your opponent to hit or defend, you will be more familiar with their technique.
3. Source of relaxation
Hobbies and games are very important to boost mental fitness. With all the stress from work, it is very important to relax with a few rounds of ping pong. Many people often do this after they come back from work for two to three hours to unwind after a tough day.
Sports and games have always been recommended by experts in reducing stress and boosting dopamine and serotonin levels. Such mild physical workouts also help you sleep better and maintain good sleep cycles in the long run.
4. Helps you form societal bonds
Generally, table tennis is played with another player or other two players in case you are playing doubles. This encourages healthy interactions between people and makes you more friendly. Human beings are social animals, so social activities have always been seen boosting people’s mental health.
Many great friendships have been formed over sports, you would be familiar with your loved ones talking about their “table tennis buddies” or “we played ping-pong together” buddies. This keeps you in touch with people outside the workplace, and maybe even outside the family. This improves mental health considerably.
5. Provides aerobic stimulation to the brain
This sport requires complete aerobic activity and exercises both the upper and lower bodies perfectly. It also fires your neurons effectively by enhancing motor coordination and making your reflexes stronger. This strengthens your neurons. High oxygen content redirected to your brain helps in faster metabolism and more activity making your brain agile to react and enhance quick-thinking.
The strategy and concentration aspect also get better, thus making sure your nervous system is completely exercised. The oxygenation levels of the brain increase to keep it active and energetic. This is what makes table tennis exhilarating. If you start making playing table tennis a habit, it can go quite a long way to make you feel amazing.
6. Prevents risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
These diseases are generally caused due to motor and cognitive inefficiencies. Hence, this sport is often recommended as therapy for Alzheimer’s and dementia because it combats these motor and cognitive inefficiencies. Table tennis enhances motor and cognitive skills due to its fast pace and concentration requirements.
So, it is given as a prescription for therapy in these diseases. This prevents early aging and any risk of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Hence, playing regular table tennis has been proved to lessen the risk of this scary disease.
These are just a few mental health benefits, the physical benefits are numerous too. Table tennis is a convenient sport to play. It can be played by all age groups at their own pace. It can even be played as a familial exercise to bring everyone closer.
Conclusion
Sports have a great effect on a person’s mental state and table tennis is a very attractive sport to play as it combines both convenience and health benefits for all age groups! It can be played in your lawn during summers and indoors during winters, making it an amazing pastime and a convenient one at that. The mental health benefits table tennis gives you is numerous. In today’s hectic world, especially with the pandemic stresses, this could just be what would help you take your mind off things!
