You never knew swimming has these benefits

You never knew swimming has these benefits

Swimming is an exercise for everyone, no matter your fitness level, you can take advantage of its benefits. Do you want to be a cardio king? Swimming can help you. Do you want to give your muscles a makeover? It can do it for you. Do you want to boost your relaxation levels? It can calm you quicker than a trip to the Bahamas.

Psychological benefits of swimming

Stress reliever

Swimming can cut down your body’s ability to respond to oxidative stress. You can dive in the pool every time you feel overwhelmed because swimming can prevent cell damage oxidative stress generates. If you swim regularly, you will boost your body’s defense against stress. Exercise is an effective way to relieve anxiety and stress, and swimming can redirect your mind from some troubling thoughts you may have. 20 minutes of swimming a week can help you boost your relaxation levels.

Variety

Repetitive exercises may get you bored, but swimming will keep you engaged because it involves performing multiple floatation aids and strokes during the same session. You can add variety to your routine by enrolling to water polo and aerobics classes.

Sleep improvement

Studies show that the people who are dealing with insomnia can use swimming to improve their sleep patterns. A recent study shows that half of the older population have difficulties sleeping. If you find difficult to sleep peacefully at night swimming can benefit you.

Enhanced mood

All types of exercises help your body release endorphins, hormones that improve your mood. Swimming can enhance your social skills and confidence, two factors that influence your self-esteem. A pilot-study involving people who suffer from dementia show that the patients who swam regularly for 3 months showed mood improvement.

Improved general wellbeing

The best way to stay healthy and fit is to have a healthy and balanced diet and to swim for 30 minutes at least two times a week. Swimming is quite effective in maintaining your positive mental outlook. Ask your friends to join you in the pool if you want to have more fun.

You never knew swimming has these benefits

Physical benefits of swimming

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A whole-body workout

During swimming, you engage all your muscle groups because you need to use your stomach, torso, legs, and arms to perform the strokes. Swimming can improve your strength, increase your heart rate without putting stress on your body, help you manage your weight, enhances your fitness, and tones your muscles. If you swim a hammer butterfly or a breaststroke, you will work your entire body during a single session. Water exercise works your body harder than other activities so if you spend 30 minutes in the pool, it equals 45 minutes of a land activity.

Burn calories

If you are looking for an effective way to lose weight, swimming can help you because it’s an amazing way to burn calories. Your swimming style and weight influence the amount of calories you can burn during a single session. If you swim gently for 20 minutes you can burn more than 200 calories, almost double the number you would burn if you would run. A faster swim can erase the chocolate bar you had after lunch quicker than if you would cycle or run.

Safe for pregnant women

If you are pregnant, your doctor may recommend you not to practice certain physical activities because the extra weight can cause muscle and joint pain. However, swimming is recommended because water will support your weight, and will help you stay comfortable while performing certain moves. You should consult your doctor before starting a water exercise program. 

Helping with asthma

Swimming can help you control your breathing and increase your lung capacity. It’s well known that asthma symptoms are improved if you expose yourself to the humid air from an indoor pool so this exercise can help you with your condition.

Building cardiovascular strength

You know that cardio is great for your body because it involves your circulatory system, lungs, and heart. But cardio exercises can be replaced by swimming if you don’t like to sweat. Research suggests that the people who swim regularly have half of the mortality rate inactive people have. If you swim regularly, you can control your blood sugar levels, and lower your blood pressure, therefore you can improve your overall health and chances to live longer.

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You never knew swimming has these benefits

How to get involved in swimming

There are countless ways to benefit from water exercise, and there are countless ways to swim. Water is the perfect environment for people with different fitness levels to get active and to take advantage of psychological and physical benefits.

If you are able to stay above the surface, but you want to learn to swim like a pro then you will have to learn more about how to breathe, and how to perform different types of strokes. You can check if your local pools or sports centers offer adult lessons for swimmers of different levels because they are the best way to learn it. Do not feel embarrassed that you are not an expert swimmer and do not try to improve your skills on your own because you may drown yourself.

When you meet your teacher you should be honest in your assessment of abilities, the trainer needs to know your level to be able to help you. You want to believe that you are an advanced swimmer, everyone wants to believe it, but admitting you are a novice will help you progress faster. Don’t feel inadequate, you will discover that many people find themselves in your situation.

When in the pool you should avoid colliding with other people, so you should swim in a circle, always staying on the right-hand side of the lane.

Freestyle is the best style when you share the lane with other swimmers. Don’t do a breaststroke because you may hurt your partners at some point. If you are an expert in backstrokes you can do it, but make sure, you get in the pool in a straight line. If you will zigzag while backstroking, you may get into the wrong side of the lane and collide with someone.

These are only some basic rules you should follow if you want to become a pro swimmer if you want to find more get enrolled in a class.