Abstract
Background
Surfing originated with Native Hawaiians prior to Western contact. It has since gained worldwide popularity, with an estimated 50 million surfers globally, and recently became an official Olympic sport. Associations have been reported between surfing and mental and physical health outcomes, greater community cohesion, and stronger intra-family relationships. Despite this evidence, surfing is deeply understudied in the context of health promotion.
Purpose
Surfing was analyzed from a mixed methods perspective to explore factors associated with lifetime participation and current engagement, including gender, race/ethnicity, chronic disease, social context, meaning, and average time of participation.
Methods
Hawai’i adult residents (n = 1066) completed an online or phone questionnaire. Modified Poisson regression models were fit for lifetime engagement and having a self-reported chronic disease, adjusting for primary race/ethnicity, age, gender, and education.
Results
Over their lifetime, 42% of respondents (50% men and 37% women) had participated in surfing. Engagement was highest during youth and young adulthood, and decreased with age, yet trends varied notably by race/ethnicity, gender, and generation. Lifetime surfing engagement was significantly related to lower likelihood of diabetes (aPR:0.72; 95%CI:0.56-0.92;p=0.009). Individuals who regularly participated in surfing typically did so with friends (78%) or family (61%); average surfing session duration was 209 minutes. Qualitative results revealed the relevance of surfing across levels of influence for health and wellbeing from physical fitness to community, culture, history and spirituality.
Conclusions
This work provides insights on the health promotion opportunities of surfing across the life-course and populations, including disease prevention and management. This study has implications for planning and policy locally and globally to achieve optimal community and planetary health.
Key messages
• Surfing is not only a sport for elite athletes, but also an activity that can support community and individual health and wellbeing in many populations over the lifespan.
• Promotion of surfing and public ocean access can support multidimensional influences for wellbeing and should be a focus of cross sector collaborations for optimal community and planetary health.