If you enjoy playing a good game of billiards, then you may be considering purchasing a table that you can use to play with friends and family at home. However, you may feel hesitant to invest in a high-quality table just to have a little more fun at home. First, realize that having a pool table in your home can actually help cut your family's entertainment expenses down — once your family can play fun games at home, you may find yourselves opting for fun nights in instead of expensive nights out.
However, in addition to offering affordable, family-friendly fun, a billiards table can also help family members of all ages improve the health of their bodies and minds. Read on to learn just how playing billiards can improve your family's health.
THE PHYSICAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF BILLIARDS
If you are like many adults, you may tell yourself that you should exercise more often, but grow bored of working out at the gym or have trouble sticking to a workout routine when you lead such a busy lifestyle. If you already play billiards frequently, then you may not realize that you are already fitting some fun exercise into your schedule without even realizing it!
During a two-hour game of billiards, the average player walks around the pool table about 100 times. When you add the distance of those 100 trips together, it equals about three-quarters of a mile. So if your goal has been to fit a one-mile walk into your schedule each day, realize that every day you play a game of billiards, you are already close to reaching your goal before you even step outside or into the gym.
Playing billiards also helps people of all ages build arms, back, and leg strength; improve their body flexibility; and improve their balance. While these billiards health benefits are great for adults and children, they are especially beneficial for the elderly who often struggle to find healthy activities to enjoy that are not too strenuous. In fact, if you have an elderly loved one who suffers from arthritis, inviting them to play a game of pool is a great way to help them get some healthy physical activity that doesn't put painful stress on their joints.
THE BRAIN HEALTH BENEFITS OF BILLIARDS
Playing a good game of billiards is not just great for your family's physical health, but it can also help keep their brains healthy. If there are any children in your family who have never learned how to play billiards or who have only "played around" a bit on a friend's table, then introducing the sport to them is a great idea.
Children of all ages can improve their hand-eye coordination while playing billiards and work on their problem-solving skills every time they have to think long and hard about how they will make one of those tougher shots. As children plan their shots, they can even begin learning about geometry as they watch how the balls bounce off the edges of the table. In addition, every child today needs to work on their concentration skills, and focusing on that billiards ball and where they want it to go after they strike it can help a child build their focus and attention span.
Billiards tables are very popular in retirement homes and assisted living facilities, and for good reason. It is very important for older adults to participate in activities that engage their brains to help ward off Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. When seniors engage in activities that require them to problem-solve, as billiards does, it can prevent the cognitive decline that can lead to dementia.
Younger adults need to put their brains to good use frequently, too, and studies have shown that learning new things frequently as an adult can ward off cognitive decline later in life. After you purchase your pool table from Connelly Tucson, start learning new games such as Nine-ball or One-pocket if you have already mastered one billiards game, such as the popular Eight-ball, and you may quickly see just how learning a new game can help improve the sharpness of your mind.
