Swimming is a fun-filled exercise. Aside from being fun, swimming is also an effective recreational activity that can make you stay healthy and keep fit. Swimming is a great work for your entire body and cardiovascular system for both the young and old. What are the top 14 benefits of swimming? Then read to the end.
There are lots and lots of benefits of swimming. If you develop the habit of swimming laps regularly, your body will thank you.
To learn about the health benefits of swimming, and to know how you can incorporate it into your routine, keep reading.
What Are The Top 14 Benefits Of Swimming?
1. It Helps To Improve Sleep:
One of the great benefits of swimming is that it has the ability to help you sleep much easier and better at night. An experiment was done on older adults that have insomnia. The report from the participants was that there was a boost in their quality of life and sleep after partaking in regular aerobic exercise.
About 50 percent of old people experience some level of insomnia, but engaging in a regular aerobic exercises including the elliptical, Stairmaster, bicycle, pool, and exercise videos can be their safe haven.
There is a high accessibility to swimming pools, streams etc in most places. If you have been experiencing difficulty sleeping, then swimming will help you sleep peacefully just like a baby.
2. Gives Cardiovascular Strength:
Another benefit of swimming is the improvement of the cardiovascular. Cardiovascular exercise is a type of exercise that involves the heart, lungs, and circulatory system, like swimming. Swimming makes the heart and lungs strong.
In a study that was conducted, after adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, and family history of cardiovascular disease, people that swim regularly had 53%, 50%, and 49% lower all-cause mortality risk than people who were sedentary, walkers, or runners. What it means is that swimming is so good for you because it reduces your risk of death.
3. Improves Mental Health:
Because of how technology has developed, people spend more time online. But with swimming, you have to physically leave your bed and phone behind to swim. So one of the biggest benefits of swimming is that it is great for giving the mind time to power down from constant digital stimulation.
Just by simply being in the water will make you feel more relaxed and less stressed. Regular swimming exercise helps to reduce anxiety and depression because it releases hormones that will make you feel good or happy and keeps your brain working in a healthy way.
4. Works Your Whole Body:
This is one of the greatest benefits of swimming, because it truly works your entire body, from head to toe. Swimming increases your heart rate without stressing your body, it also tones muscles, builds strength and builds endurance.
There are different swimming styles like breaststroke, backstroke, sidestroke, butterfly and freestyle. Each of these different styles focuses on different muscle groups, and the water provides a gentle resistance. No matter what stroke or style you swim, you are using most of your muscle groups to move your body through the water.
5. It Helps People With Injuries:
High impact exercises are difficult for people with injuries or conditions like arthritis to do, that is why swimming is their best and suited exercise because the water supports the muscles gently. Swimming has a great impact in reducing joint pain, stiffness and also improving recovery from injuries.
6. It Helps Asthmatic Patients:
Yet another benefit of swimming exercise is the improvement of not just cardiovascular, but also improving of the lungs capacity and breathing control. The humid air in an indoor pool can help people who have asthma because of the breathing exercise associated with this swimming exercise, like breath holding, which can expand the lungs capacity and also help improve breathing.
Take note that the disinfectant chemicals that are being used in pools can worsen asthma conditions, which is why it is better to swim in pools that use salt water rather than chlorine or better still stream water.
7. Increases Fitness And Muscle Mass:
In order to stay healthy, it is advised to do a moderate aerobic activity every week. This aerobic activity includes exercise like running, walking or HIIT workouts at home.
You can do a fast swimming exercise for one hour every week. This will keep you fit.
The building up of muscle is another benefit of swimming. Swimming tones up every part of the body. People that swim regularly, have more definition in their arms, upper body and thighs in particular, which is because swimming provides a consistent resistance pattern, so muscles are taxed hard, and therefore they tone up.
Read Also: 7 Side Effects of Not Drinking Enough Water
8. Helps People With Ms:
Swimming exercise are also very beneficial to people who have multiple sclerosis (MS). Water provides a gentle resistance.
Water also makes the limbs buoyant, helping to support them during exercise. A study was conducted on people with multiple sclerosis (MS), who started swimming. The result of the swimming exercise test showed that they had a significant reduction and improvement in pain, depression fatigue and disability.
9. Boosts Mood:
A group of researchers evaluated a small number of people with dementia and saw an improvement in their mood after participating in a swimming program. Swimming is psychologically beneficial for people with dementia. This swimming exercise can also boost the mood in other people, as well.
10. It’s Pregnancy Safe:
Swimming is one exercise that is recommended for pregnant women. When pregnant, it is important to talk to your doctor before you start any exercise routine because every pregnancy is different.
Swimming exercise is very safe for most pregnancies. When swimming, the water supports you and your baby bump and can help to reduce swelling in the ankles and feet. During pregnancy, the added weight can cause joint pain, but the water can help support that weight.
Women who swim during their early to mid-period of their pregnancy have a lower risk of preterm labour and congenital defects.
11. Burns Calories:
One of the best benefits of swimming is its ability to burn down calories. But, the amount of calories burned depends on a person’s weight and how vigorously they swim.
A person can use this calculation to determine how many calories they burn while working out:
12. Manages Stress:
Swimming has proved effective in stress management. If you are always stressed, try swimming because it is a potentially powerful way to relieve stress very quickly. Swimming exercise is great for people who are depressed and stressed all the time.
13. Beneficial To Kids Too:
Swimming exercise is a fun activity and is also great for kids. Kids need a minimum of 60 minutes of aerobic exercise.
14. Regulates Blood Sugar:
In a study done in 2016, involving 62 untrained premenopausal women, found that swimming three times per week improved glucose (sugar) control and insulin sensitivity.
The study found that low-volume, high-intensity intermittent swimming was more beneficial than swimming at low intensity for 1 hour.
Read Also: Simple But Powerful Kegel Exercises For Men
Conclusion
In this article on “What are the top 14 benefits of swimming”, we talked about what swimming can do to your body and entire health.
Swimming engages several different muscle groups and the cardiovascular system, and it can provide an excellent workout for a wide variety of individuals. Swimming burns calories and can help people manage their weight, tone their muscles, and improve their overall health and fitness. Swimming can also elevate mood and relieve stress.
My brother is trying to find an activity to help him destress and relax after a busy day. I like your suggestion to try swimming since this activity helps him lose weight while releasing pent-up stress. I will discuss this idea with him so we can find a pool builder that can help him in the future.
Hope this help him relax more.