Why You Should Start Roller Skating, Today!

Are roller skates a thing of the past? Or are they the way of the future?
There is something so freeing about tying some wheels to your feet and rolling around the local rink, gliding and dancing your way down the road or surfing the concrete waves in the skatepark.

Roller skating has surged in popularity over the last year or so, thanks to social media, and there are loads of benefits associated to this super fun activity!

So, here’s 5 reasons why you should get some wheels on your feet and start roller skating.

1. Anyone can skate

There is no age limit to roller skating! You can start at any age, and progress at any rate you’re comfortable with. Whether you’re 5 years old or 50 years old there are lots of opportunity to join local clubs, participate in local classes or learn from home with the extensive online resources and tutorials. You may join ‘groups’ on social media for distanced support or personalized tips or even find adults only classes or mums and tot’s classes near you (Hey Macarena, 2020). There’s always more to learn which keeps things from becoming boring, and provides the potential for you to roller skate your whole life and never stop progressing! Roller skates are a conversation starter and once you get rolling, you’re very likely to find like-minded people and make some real human connections.

2. It’s a full body workout!

Roller skating uses the whole body, something that’s often underestimated, and builds muscles you don’t use in everyday life. It helps tone all your leg muscles, abdominal muscles and back muscles. Improving these muscles in turn, improves balance and endurance. Roller skating burns calories and releases endorphins, your body’s natural hormones which relieve pain, boost pleasure and give an overall sense of well-being (cafasso, 2017). Because roller skating engages your core muscles, lower back and abdominal muscles, and your body is moving in a way it normally doesn’t move, coordination and body awareness are also improved.

It gives you an insight as to what you can really do!

3. It’s good for your heart

Roller skating is good for your cardiovascular health and helps to reduce the risk of heart disease. According to the Heart Foundation, 2020, heart disease affects over 1 of 28 adults in New Zealand. Frequent exercise, like roller skating can help reduce and control your resting heart rate decreasing the amount of strain on your heart and allows it to pump more blood with each contraction (WebMD, 2020). Because roller skating is a thrilling and pleasurable experience, it makes regular exercising easy.

4. Economic transportation

Roller Skating is a fun and economic way to travel, and is not just limited to your local roller rink. We often miss spectacular sights, local businesses and other opportunities when we’re busy focusing on the road while driving. Roller skating provides the opportunity to see everything that slips by when we drive. Roller skating is an activity that can be done on any hard ground such as, concrete, wood, linoleum, Astroturf etc. which makes getting around easy. You can even skate uphill!

5. It helps relieve anxiety

Roller skating can aid in relieving anxiety not only by regulating your heart beat, releasing endorphins, providing opportunity to meet like-minded people and many of the other points mentioned above, but also helps build confidence. A major part of roller skating is falling. It teaches you to be okay with falling, especially when you wear protective gear like knee pads when you practice. According to Rowe, 2019, low levels of vitamin D are connected to feelings of anxiety and low mood. Roller skating outdoors, a personal favorite, gets you out in the fresh air and under the sun which helps your body naturally produce vitamin D.

So, now you know just some of the multitude of good things that happen when roller skating, what are you waiting for?

Let’s get rolling!

 - Kea

References:

Cafasso, J., (2017) Why Do We Need Endorphins? Retrieved from: https://www.healthline.com/health/endorphins

Heart foundation, (2020) General heart statistics in New Zealand. Retrieved from: https://www.heartfoundation.org.nz/statistics

Hey Macarena, (2020) Learn to Skate Classes in Auckland. Retrieved from: https://heymacarena.co.nz/my-classes/

Rowe, K., (2019) EASE OCCASIONAL ANXIETY & IMPROVE YOUR MOOD WITH VITAMIN D. retrieved from: https://brainmd.com/blog/ease-anxiety-with-vitamin-d/#:~:text=Low%20levels%20of%20vitamin%20D,well%2Dbeing%20as%20we%20age.

WebMD, (2020) How to Lower Your Heart Rate. Retrieved from:
https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/how-to-lower-your-heart-rate#:~:text=A%20lower%20resting%20heart%20rate,extra%20hard%20to%20pump%20blood.