Mental Health Benefits of Surfing as an Adult

Our all-inclusive adult surf camp offers a fantastic way to learn to surf or improve your skills, but it also provides a unique vacation that comes with various mental health benefits. Kalon Surf immerses you in nature, astonishing scenery, and the Pura Vida lifestyle that Costa Rica is known for.

If there’s one thing our guests mention most in their feedback, aside from surfing, fine dining, and the wonderful Kalon team, it’s how finding community in adult surf camps adds a special aspect to their vacations, with many guests making lifelong friends. We wanted to share the outcomes of taking a week to surf, relax, recharge, and socialize, drawing on just one of the many studies that shows a clear correlation between surfing and mental wellbeing.

Surfing and Mental Health: The Blue Space Effect

Surf enthusiasts often describe the feeling of peace, clarity, and calm they experience on the water, but it’s sometimes difficult to put that experience into words that do it justice. This is part of why surfing works as a wellness practice even for beginners. Fortunately, researchers have analyzed scores on a Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) for surfers and non-surfers and compared surfing with other Blue Space environments, such as lakes. They discovered that:

• Surf therapy can improve mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, and issues with forming relationships. Some research has even suggested wider economic benefits linked to improved wellbeing.
• Blue spaces are therapeutic for people with a wide range of physical and mental health conditions and, unlike alternative outdoor settings, also contribute to marine sustainability.
• A systematic review showed that 75% of study participants agreed that surfing had positively impacted their physical and mental health, their ability to manage stress, and their social relationships.

In addition, regular or hobbyist surfers had an average PWI score of 77.6, compared to a national average of 75.2, and reported better perceptions of personal wellbeing across all age groups.

Real-World Holistic Health Impacts of Surfing

For many adults, everyday responsibilities take precedence, which means we often lose a sense of wonder and adventure and forget the rush of trying something new. However, the benefits of surfing are also about mindfulness — the ocean is one of the best resets for busy people. When you’re surfing, you don’t have time to pay attention to much else while you’re:

• Watching and reading the waves
• Timing your movements and reactions
• Responding to the natural world in real time

We often talk about the importance of surfing injury prevention for adults, and the trick is to commit to the learning experience while taking in the advice and tips from our seasoned surf coaching team. In doing so, Kalon’s guests build confidence and learn to trust their own instincts while surfing in a supported environment where coaches manage every aspect of logistics.

How Surf Camps Provide a Physical and Emotional Reset

As always, the best way to describe the Kalon experience is to defer to our wonderful guests who share their thoughts about their vacations in their own words.

• Gia said: “As a solo female traveler, I had a wonderfully relaxing yet adventurous experience. I cannot emphasize enough how much the staff provided excellent service every single moment of the one-week stay.”
• Karen also felt that a surf camp was as much about winding down as surfing. She said: “The structure of the week is a perfect blend of surfing, activity, relaxation, and friendship. We really enjoyed the community meals and the time together with other guests. We became so close, exchanging numbers and promising to return next year at the same time.”
• Timothy added: “I’ve heard the perfect vacation doesn’t exist. Kalon not only challenges that thought but buries it! Literally, the entire week was perfect.”

We’re grateful to hear about how reengaging with the present, rebuilding confidence, and having the space to think and connect make such a meaningful impact. We hope to leave all Kalon guests feeling energized, reinvigorated, and ready to return for their next vacation!