7 Health Benefits of Using a Bow and Arrow updated in 2022

Archery is one of the oldest sports known to the civilization after the advent of the boomerang, it was perhaps a bow and arrow that helped humans to hunt, fight or play since prehistoric times.

The importance of the bow and arrow can be traced even in the religious epics and folkloric literature. Most of the time to express the brilliance and skills of the protagonist he/she was called an ace archer. Archery still continues to charm the hearts of many fitness and sports enthusiasts either as a recreational hobby or a serious game.

Health Benefits of Using a Bow and Arrow

Practicing archery has some amazing health and psychological benefits too. If done regularly it can help you to become a healthier and smarter person. Some of the interesting health benefits are enlisted below:-

1. Improves concentration and mental endurance

Archery is one of those few sports which requires complete focus and an undisturbed gaze. This concentration makes the archer a quick learner and helps him/her to learn to see with unfazed attention which actually builds remarkable memory in the long term.

Archery requires a sharp focus and to focus continuously, the archer must learn to conquer distractions like noise, wind or peer pressure. This teaches the archers to become mentally stronger and they learn to remain tranquil even under high stress and anxiety.

2. Hand and eye alignment

The chief job of an archer is to focus and aim so. Therefore, an alignment between arm muscles and eyes is very important and archers develop this over time. Making them more target-oriented players.

3. Builds patienceand upper body strength

Archery teaches the toughest lesson of life-patience. An archer needs to be tremendously patient to perfect the skill of bow and arrow. As an archer one needs to stay focused and must not shy away from repetitive tasks and these can’t be accomplished without excellent patience and a tranquil mind.

Archery uses almost all the muscles of the upper body making the upper body stronger and building the arm muscles. In fact back and chest muscles gain strength too.

It’s very helpful for those who aren’t using their hands beyond the keypad. It helps them to develop strength in their upper body.

4. Burns caloriesand Muscle-building

Though archery doesn’t need a lot of running around or physical activities like other sports, the tugging of the bow can help you burn a lot of calories if done regularly.

It can actually make you shed some extra pounds from your arms giving you well-formed shoulders and biceps.

Tugging a bow and releasing an arrow uses almost all the muscles of your upper body. It uses the muscles of the chest, arms, wrists, and neck as well. Especially when the archers freeze before a draw, it develops a tension in their bodies which gradually builds the muscles.

5. Coordination of the entire body

A perfect draw needs perfect coördination of the entire body as even slight movements can affect the shot. The standing posture, the balance between the feet and tilting of the head can make or mar a shot. So a perfect posture is needed to shoot an arrow at the bull’s eye.

Archers develop a perfect posture and coördination among the entire body parts as they ace in their game because it’s impossible to draw accurately without standing properly.

6. Stress-buster and boosts self-esteem

Many archers admit that releasing the arrows actually act like releasing the unwanted negativity of the mind or to see the arrows hitting the target makes the archer feel better psychologically. No doubt archery is becoming hugely popular among young professionals and celebrities alike.

Like every sport winning a competition or consistent improvement in performance boosts the self-esteem of the players. This makes them happy and they become more satisfied with their lives.

Archers not only become physically healthy but they develop terrific mental and psychological strength as well. They learn to overcome all the hindrances to aim at the desired spot and this habit helps them in other spheres of life too.

7. Social skills

Archers are often invited to take part in several tournaments where they compete either as people or as teams. During such tournaments, they learn to work in-sync with the other team members and learn to develop healthy relations with fellow participants. They learn to take both triumph and failure with equal enthusiasm.

This teaches them success is never permanent and failure is never final.

Even if taken as a hobby, archery teaches people to stay calm and focused under huge stress and peer pressure. This tranquillity of mind imparts a rare clarity of thought and builds their decision-making skills.