10 Unexpected Health Benefits of Roller Skating

What Is Roller Skating?

Roller skating, simply put, is moving around on a pair of roller skates. It is not only a leisure activity but also a sport. Sometimes, people also consider it as a means of transportation.

First seen in 1734, roller skates were supposed to have been used in a stage performance in London. Although no one knows who invented them, nowadays they are very popular with people of all ages.

With the history of nearly 300 years, this sport has become diverse in categories.

Roller skating is divided into 9 popular types. They are Slalom, Slide, Aggressive, Speed, Downhill, Inline figure skating (IFS), Dancing, Inline hockey, and Fitness. Due to the variety of genres, there are also suitable shoes with rolling wheels used for each kind of roller skating.

There are several fun facts about roller skating that you may be interested in. Let’s take a look at them!

Some Fun Facts About Roller Skating

1. In 1819, Monsieur Petit Bled invented inline skates with just 3 rolling wheels. But you can only go straight. Turning is impossible!
2. It was at a wedding in 1912 that a couple wore roller skates. They did roller skating at their wedding though it was not a tradition.
3. There is a museum exhibiting artifacts of roller skating in Lincoln, Nebraska. It is the National Museum of roller skating which attracts a large number of visitors every year.
4. Roller skating is included in the Olympics as a demonstration sport.
5. People have made lots of movies about roller skating, some of which are Xanadu, Roll Bounce, Whip It, and so on.
6. You have to use 80% muscles of your body to roller skate, which provides you with an effective workout to burn calories.

#1 Burn Calories

As the last fun fact we mentioned above, when roller skating, you have to use 80% of your body. That means roller skating is an activity that needs strength. Hence, it makes you more active and sweaty.

If you skate on a regular basis and follow a healthy and reasonable diet, your calories will undoubtedly be burned soon.

More specifically, skating for 30 minutes can help you burn 250 calories. Then, if you do roller skating for about 30 minutes each session and five times a week, you will have 1250 calories burned. When combining it with a healthy diet, you can lose 30 pounds every week.

So roller skating is an effective way to lose weight!

#2 Help You Build More Muscles

When you skate, many parts of your body, such as the abdomen, buttocks, thighs, and calves, are affected at the same time. For example, when you want to turn, you have to use abs, glutes, thigh muscles, and leg muscles to move your body in your intended direction.

If you do roller skating for a long period at first, you may suffer from the pain in your muscles. Your calves will be the first parts where the pain occurs because they are the most active during the skating process.

Thus, roller skating is also an excellent way to build more muscles provided that you practice hard and properly.

#3 Strengthen Your Heart

According to the American Heart Association, roller skating is a good aerobic exercise, which can strengthen your heart.

Why so?

When you skate, you also perform the same movements as running, for example, putting your foot forward or using your muscles to move your body. These actions will make your heart beat faster. Gradually, your heartbeat will be improved and become stronger.

Thanks to roller skating, your heartbeat will be increased up to 140 – 160 beats each minute. Or even if you can do speed skating or roller derby, your heartbeat may reach 180 beats a minute.

Having a strong heart means having a healthy life!

#4 Improve Your Endurance

Like running and cycling, roller skating is considered as a sport that can help people to build endurance, especially muscular endurance.

Having good stamina, you can do hard work for a relatively long time without taking regular rests. Therefore, it also contributes to increasing your work productivity.

It’s like storing energy in each skating session. The more you do roller skating, the more durable you are. Thanks to regular practice of roller skating, you will not get tired easily and quickly in any activities.

#5 Reduce Stress

Nowadays, living and working involve a lot of stress. No matter what you are doing, you can also get stressed. And many terrible things will happen if you do not promptly relieve stress.

Why don’t you try roller skating as a means of entertainment?

Just try it once and we are sure that you will want to do roller skating again.

Doctors highly recommend that people should do more activities to reduce stress as well as get energy for their life and work. Just imagine that in a peaceful space of a green park, you do skating and enjoy the fresh air. It must be very relaxing!

Read More: Why Is Roller Skating Fun?

#6 Help To Cure Diabetes

Can you believe that roller skating can help to cure diabetes?

Well, it sounds hard to believe, but it is true.

Diabetes is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle: unbalanced and unreasonable diets, sedentary habits. This popular disease may lead to serious consequences; especially it can influence your longevity.

A simple way to avoid and cure diabetes is skating regularly. Roller skating is also a good aerobics exercise that can control your amount of insulin well. Also, it helps to reduce your blood glucose level to a stable and proper level.

#7 Learn How To Keep Balance

Do you usually lose your balance when standing, walking or doing other activities?

Balance is important because it helps you stand, walk, and sit effortlessly. Not everyone has a natural balance without practising. But if you do not have the balance at first, roller skating can help you.

This sport can improve your balance with your muscles used while skating. When skating, remaining stability to stand straight is a required skill.

So for a better balance, roller skating is a great way.

See More: How To Keep Balance On Roller Skate

#8 Make Your Joints More Flexible

Roller skating is a wonderful exercise for your joints.

According to a research by Massachusetts University, compared to walking or running, skating can cause less than 50% of injuries to joints. This points out that skating is not only more effective but also safer than other types of exercise.

Roller skating also makes your joints, together with the whole body, move easily and smoothly. Therefore, your joints will become more flexible.

#9 Make Your Body More Agile

Doing exercise in general and skating in particular not only improves your health but also makes your body more agile and flexible.

Roller skating requires the cooperation of many different muscles in your body so that you can move your body and perform in the best ways. For that reason, some less active parts such as abs, back, and shoulder have the chance to work more than usual.

If you are an officer or do the sedentary jobs, skating is a wonderful sport to keep your whole body active. Then, you will have an energetic and healthy body.

#10 Enhance Mental Health

As you see, roller skating brings you lots of physical benefits. Besides, you can get mental advantages. Simply, it makes you happy.

While you do roller skating, harmful hormones are eliminated. Meanwhile, lots of endorphins also called “happy hormones” are produced. After skating for a long time, you can see your mind has improved a lot.

If you are in a group of people roller skating, the effect is even much better than you think. That’s because “the more, the merrier”!