Angling second-most relaxing hobby!
Research has shown that fishing is the second-most relaxing of the UK’s top 20 hobbies, beaten only by knitting!
The data was collected over a number of weeks by diys.com – the world’s largest DIY community – which asked hundreds of participants to try each of the hobbies while having their heart rates recorded by Fitbit watches.
Angling caused a 10 per cent decrease in heart rate, but cycling came out bottom of the table, causing a staggering 118.75 per cent increase.
A spokesperson from DIYs said us:
“With such a decrease in heart rate there’s no wonder why so many people are currently getting into fishing, especially with Covid-19 lurking in the stressful lives of British people.”
We wonder what would have happened to the heart rates of the participants had they hooked a barbel or cast into a tree. If they had, angling might not have fared so well!
Research has shown that fishing is the second-most relaxing of the UK’s top 20 hobbies
Angling plays a major role in mental wellbeing - Rob Hughes
A few years ago the Government realised that one of the key ways that it could reduce stress on the NHS was to get people fitter.
A directive came down from those at the top saying that we needed to improve the public’s health, and a lot of money was spent promoting an active lifestyle. The phrase ‘couch potato’ was bandied around and the Government started to promote the benefits of fitness through advertising. Fast forward to today and it’s recognised that mental health and stress-related illness are major factors affecting people’s lives. They are also among the biggest killers in the UK, the biggest burdens on the NHS, and a considerable drain on industry as a whole due to people taking time off work to deal with their problems.
The term ‘health and fitness’ has been superseded by ‘health and wellbeing’, and this is where angling has a major role to play. Speak to most anglers and the main reason they go fishing in the first place is to chill out. It’s been proven time and again that angling is great for treating people suffering from debilitating and dangerous mental illnesses. Whether it’s helping cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in our ex-forces personnel or kids finding their journey into adulthood too challenging – angling has an awful lot to offer. Carp After Combat, Second Chance, Let’s Fish, Get Hooked on Fishing, and the John Wilson Fishing Enterprise are all worthy causes that should be proud of what they, and fishing as a whole, put back into society.
