Fishing for Health: How Time on the Water Can Positively Impact
the Body and Mind
By Jonathan Stokley
Today’s world is built around screens, instant satisfaction, and staying indoors. Finding ways to relax, escape the internet, and unwind in nature is important. A popular activity that offers beneficial mental and physical health effects is fishing. From casting a line on the shore or being out on a boat, spending time near water offers more than just the reward of a successful catch. Fishing offers a place where you can slow down, breathe, and be present in the moment.
How Does Fishing Help Mentally?
The world can be stressful, exhausting, and can pull people in too many directions. That’s why it’s nice to take a break to relax, recharge, and fish. People who engage in fishing, compared those who don’t, show signs of lower stress, up to 15.4% lower. Fishing is an accessible activity that offers a mental health boost for anyone participating. All you need is a small pond, lake, or river. If there’s not one nearby, you can always take a trip to the beach! A vacation plus fishing can be a time with no worries at all. Take it from me. My home is near a beach with sunshine, sand, and endless water to fish.
Other challenges that people may face are anxiety and depression, which can be found in the same “pond” as stress. Research on mental health and recreational fishing in adult males of the UK found that people who engaged in fishing more regularly were roughly 17% less likely to develop a diagnosis of depression, schizophrenia, suicidal thoughts, or self-harming thoughts, compared to people who fished less. This report highlights that 88.4% of the participants main motivation for fishing was to unwind, relax, and be out in nature. But these benefits aren’t limited to adult males, they extend to everyone who fishes.
What Else Can Fishing Offer?
Fishing includes exercise as well, whether it’s walking to your spot, wading through the water, or reeling in a giant fish, it gets the blood pumping and sweat rolling. It offers an exciting way to grow and be active while building character and confidence. Fishing can also help teens find their identities, exercise self-determination, and develop vital life skills like patience, self-discipline, how to handle stress, and time management. It can also strengthen resilience, optimism, and self-esteem!
What’s the “Catch”?
It’s easy to overlook a simple hobby like fishing, but if you dive deeper, you’ll discover just how great it is. Fishing is not just about catching fish; it’s about removing yourself from the stresses of life and finding time to recharge. It doesn’t matter if you go out for a few hours or add it to your daily routine, spending time fishing can be one of the most enjoyable ways to take care of yourself.
References
Leonard, S. E. (2015). The benefits of recreational fishing in adolescence (Master’s thesis, University of New Hampshire, Durham). UNH Scholars’ Repository. https://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/thesis/article/2016/&path_info=Leonard_unh_0141N_10113.pdf
Pita, P., Gribble, M. O., Antelo, M., Ainsworth, G., Hyder, K., van den Bosch, M., & Villasante, S. (2022). Recreational fishing, health and well-being: Findings from a cross-sectional survey. Ecosystems and People, 18(1), 530–546. https://doi.org/10.1080/26395916.2022.2112291
Reaves, K. (2022, January 28). The surprising mental health benefits of fishing. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/January-2022/The-Surprising-Mental-Health-Benefits-of-Fishing
Wilson, J. J., Trott, M., Tully, M. A., Lindsay, R. K., Fossey, M., Godier-McBard, L., Butler, L. T., Torrance, A., & Smith, L. (2023). Mental health and recreational angling in uk adult males: A cross-sectional study. Epidemiologia, 4(3), 298–308. https://doi.org/10.3390/epidemiologia4030030