Bullseyes for Wellness: Seven Health Benefits of Playing Darts

Darts is more than just a game for those at pubs to play with friends, it can be your new weapon to better health. Many people are unaware of the positive impact that darts can have on the human body and mind. From better posture to an improved mental state, playing darts is a great activity to incorporate into your daily life.

When it comes to talking about healthy activities, exercise is extremely popular. Although darts do not require a large amount of physical activity, given its quite difficult to throw and properly aim a dart while running, darts still requires an active participant. The throwing process involves a large amount of muscle movements. This range in bodily movement includes everything from your shoulders to your finger muscles. Between standing to throw and the work of aiming, darts is actually a great way to get yourself moving!

Darts helps people discover the joy of seeing your target ahead of you and successfully being able to hit the spot on the board. Continuously practicing darts significantly improves a person’s hand-eye coordination. Not only will this skill help you in your dart success, better hand-eye coordination can also translate over into a wide variety of different fields.

Playing darts is a great way to socialize with others. Being social helps people to feel fulfilled in their lives and supported by the individuals around them. Darts was designed to share experiences with one another and is something that everyone can play. A great way to spend time with those who appreciate the craft of the game is joining a dart league. Playing with others offers the opportunity to share the experience with your friends and family as well. Friendly competition can help you not only practice your game but spend time with the people you care about.

The action of playing a game of darts is extremely beneficial to balancing the left and right side of the brain. The left side of the brain controls logical thinking while the right side of the brain controls spatial thinking, and darts walks the line between the two. A large component of a game of darts is the process of calculating scores. By mentally preparing your course of action while throwing you are improving your mental math abilities. Darts requires an intense level of concentration which forces its participants to work on their decision-making skills as well as their problem-solving skills. Focusing mentally and concentrating on the game before you is a hugely beneficial part of playing darts.

Keeping a good stance while throwing is crucial to succeeding in a game. Because darts requires the participant to stand up and play, proper posture is highly important. Without a proper stance, your throws, aim, and perhaps your entire game can be thrown off. The emphasis on good posture is hugely beneficial not only in the world of darts, it is also helpful while walking around in everyday life or even sitting at your office desk.

Playing a game with a partner can be largely beneficial for a multitude of reasons. Working with another person forces you to communicate closely with one another and develop a strategy together. Skills like compromise, sportsmanship, and adaptability can be built up to improve your ability to play well with others. 

Expressing feelings of anger, frustration, or stress can oftentimes be difficult. Playing a game of darts can help channel these feelings into something productive rather than destructive. By focusing on the game, rather than the stressors of the outside world, many people are able to find solace and stress relief in the game. Darts offers an escape from stress.

From improving your posture to creating social connections to relieving stress, darts offers a variety of health benefits. As a sport darts is often overlooked as simply being just a game for bars and pubs but it truly is so much more. Remember, whether you are standing at the oche by yourself or enjoying a friendly game with the ones you love, every throw brings you one step closer to a happier, healthier you.