It might surprise you to learn that American shooting ranges are a $4 billion industry. Many customers have discovered the therapeutic advantages of shooting at a gun range, which plays into the industry’s success.
If you’re looking for a new self-care activity, learning how to shoot a gun or target shooting practice might be the solution. The following guide will explore how visiting an indoor shooting range can clear your mind and boost your mood.
Lock, load, and read on to discover all the therapeutic benefits of gun ranges.
Improved Focus
There are a lot of perks that come with modern technology but it has several drawbacks, too. For one, there are more ways for you to lose focus than ever before.
Today, most people expect continuous entertainment and find themselves staring at screens instead of finishing tasks. Fortunately, going to a gun range or practicing a target shooting sport can help.
In order to shoot a specific area of a target, you must block out all distractions and concentrate only on your goal. If you’re new to shooting, it might feel difficult in the beginning. However, your performance will improve over time and so will your mental health.
You’ll gradually enhance your focus by visiting a shooting range and help your brain dial in on tasks. Also, improving your concentration can help in many other aspects of both your home life and career.
Adrenaline Boost
A boost of adrenaline can substantially improve your mood and mental health. Many find that they get a better adrenaline rush from gun training at the range than from any other activity.
The jolt of adrenaline you receive every time you visit a shooting range also improves your energy levels. You’ll start to notice chemical changes occurring in your body while you focus on shooting.
Elevated levels of adrenaline send a signal to your liver telling it to begin breaking down glycogen. It’s a substance that’s responsible for supplying your body with its main energy source, glucose.
When you feel more energized, you’ll start performing better at the range. A better shooting performance typically leads to a higher production of serotonin in your body and a feeling of happiness.
Enhanced Discipline
Visiting a shooting range not only improves focus but also improves mental discipline as well. When it comes to shooting accurately, most of the work gets done in your head rather than physically.
A lot of veteran shooters say that success at the range usually depends on your mindset before you even aim. Before aiming, you must complete a sequence of analytical exercises and measurements in your head.
Shooting involves considering all possible solutions in front of you. You must plan how to get the bullet in your gun from its starting point to the exact area of the target you intend to hit.
If you visit an outdoor shooting range, you’ll have to do even more calculations. The conditions are more unpredictable and you must plan for things like the wind blowing and natural slopes that the targets sit on.
Improving your mental discipline via shooting can also carry over to other circumstances in your life. After a few visits to the range, you’ll begin thinking several steps ahead and using tactics you’d never thought of before to solve problems.
Mental discipline can also help improve your creativity and help you develop solutions. Like with improved focus, better discipline can even benefit you at the office.
Confidence Building
The first part of shooting lessons involves learning and memorizing gun safety practices. After a few lessons, these rules for shooting become something you know like the back of your hand.
You start to fully understand the immense responsibility you take on when handling a firearm. Then, your confidence also grows because of this new understanding.
If you have more confidence, it helps build social skills and makes professional interactions easier. Having courage plays an important role in your sense of self and mental health.
Relieving Stress
Sometimes it’s hard to live in the moment while you’re busy balancing things like work, family, and finances. Always worrying about what comes next can add a lot of stress and anxiety to your life.
But at a shooting range, you won’t have any choice other than to stay present. You must remain totally locked in on the task in front of you because you’re handling a weapon.
While practicing shooting, your pace of life slows down and things feel less frenzied than usual. It gives you more space to take a breath and let your other worries slip away.
Even a quick hour at the shooting range can help you feel calmer and more grounded. You get a unique combination of clarity, focus, and relaxation.
It’s important to note that not managing stress can accelerate aging and shorten how long you live.
Socialization
Some people are more introverted than others, but everyone needs some level of social interaction for their mental health. When you go to a shooting range, you get to engage with others with similar interests.
You’ll find that ranges welcome anyone and everyone that has a passion for shooting. Not only will you meet a lot of new people, but you can also watch and learn techniques from fellow marksmen.
It’s also important to note that social interactions at a shooting range can improve cognitive skills and memory. Socializing helps stimulate your attention and builds strength throughout your neural networks.
You might build friendships at the range that last for the rest of your life. Friendships help build confidence and give you a sense of belonging and purpose. They can also help you get through hard times such as a divorce, illness, or death of a family member.
Getting Out
Today, it’s not uncommon to have a virtual meeting for work or for kids to learn virtually from home. You might find that you barely got out of your house for the week, especially if you work remotely.
Going to the shooting range makes for an excellent reason to get out for a few hours and experience a change of scenery. You could even schedule your trips to the range for particular days so that you always have something to look forward to.
Getting out of the house also helps strengthen your immune system and even improves your sleeping habits. If you go to an outdoor shooting range, you’ll even soak up some much-needed vitamin D!
Vitamin D helps reduce inflammation to help your body heal faster and can help lower your blood pressure. Being outside in nature also helps relieve stress, build attention, and boost moods.
Staying Active
Training at a shooting range can serve as a great way to get some exercise. Shooting helps build strength, stamina, and balance.
A lot of ranges require their customers to stand in one place when they shoot. Sometimes ranges let shooters lie down in a prone position while they practice. You’ll also find ranges that host assault course events that require both shooting and running.
On an assault course, shooters wear full gear and carry several guns while moving past obstacles and firing at different targets. It takes a lot of stamina to make it through these courses, and they make a great way to build endurance.
You might also choose to exercise outside of the shooting range so that you don’t get fatigued at the range. So, through visiting shooting ranges, you have the chance to completely reshape your lifestyle.
Regular exercise boosts self-esteem and improves cognitive function, which leads to reduced anxiety and depression symptoms. It can also help prevent social withdrawal, which ties in nicely with the other socialization benefits of shooting ranges.
It’s also important to note that firing larger guns takes a lot of physical strength. If you don’t support the gun correctly, it makes it very difficult to hit targets.
Shooting helps strengthen muscles in the arms, shoulders, back, and core. You must raise the gun to a firing position and keep it steady there. You also have to shift your weight around and find your balance while you shoot.
Once you build strength at the range, you can use it in other areas of your life as well. Strength training helps protect your joints which can help older individuals maintain their independence longer.
Visit an Indoor Shooting Range
Now you know how beneficial an indoor shooting range can be for your mental health. From improving your confidence and focus to relieving stress and making new friends, there’s no shortage of reasons to get out and visit the range!
You can contact us at Texas Gun Club if you have any questions about firearms or our shooting range. We’re focused on growing the sport of shooting in a fun, friendly, and safe environment.
