Swimming has always been considered a great exercise for people of all ages. Not only is it great for your overall fitness, but it’s also a great activity to tone and strengthen your muscles. Swimming helps reduce your blood pressure and cholesterol and can help decrease your risk of stroke, diabetes, and cancer. One doesn’t have to be a swimming Olympian to benefit from this sport.
- Swimming Improves Social Well Being
Swimming is a low-impact, anaerobic exercise, which means that while one’s body is exerting energy, little to nothing is being burned off. Anaerobic exercise burns calories, but not much, and for swimming, this refers to around 100 calories per 45-minute class. However, it’s believed that swimming is about 20 times more effective at strengthening the heart than running, so swimming has benefits beyond just burning calories. Although swimming is an exercise, it is not a sport, meaning that it doesn’t require you to compete with others, and in fact, swimming is most effective when it is done alone.
- Swimming Teaches Individuals to be Goal-Oriented
Swimming teaches individuals to be goal-oriented. It’s not about the beach or competition. Instead, it’s all about reaching those personal goals. Whether it’s the number of laps or strokes completed or the number of strokes per minute, swimming becomes a competition with yourself, pushing you to new levels of accomplishment. However, it’s not all hard work. Swimming also allows us to take some time out from our hectic schedules, to find new friends and engage in leisure activities.
- Kids Who Start Swimming Early Become More Active Adults
A new study out of Rutgers University has found that people who swam as children go on to live more active lives, on average, than their non-swimming peers. The study found that adults who frequently swam as children were more likely to lead a physically active life, even after accounting for the number of hours they spent exercising. “These findings clearly demonstrate the importance of starting youngsters swimming at an early age,” said the study’s lead author, Brendan J. Daley, Ph.D., of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
- You Become Smarter
Swimming has long been considered one of the best ways to exercise, but according to a new study, swimming is even more so. Researchers found that swimming improves brain function in older adults, even those with a high degree of cognitive function. The study, which appeared in the European Journal of Neurology, found that swimming improved the cognitive power and improved the reaction time of older adults.
- Swimming Boosts Skills in Team-Building
For many of us, swimming is usually an activity we engage in alone. There’s not usually much collaboration involved in the pool. But swimming can actually be a great sport for building teamwork skills. Swimming, especially competitive swimming, requires general teamwork between athletes and coaches. It takes a special kind of individual chemistry to work well in a group, and swimming requires endless practice. That’s why swimming is one of the best team sports around.
- Swimming, Compared to Jogging, Burns More Amount of Calories
We never realized how much water we burned while swimming or how much it actually helped us lose weight. On average, a person who exercises for 30 minutes on a 90-degree day will burn around 84 calories. However, the same person who takes swim laps for even an hour will burn 211 calories. Swimming is also considered a low-impact exercise, so the risk of injuries is low. It is, however, easy to overexert yourself while swimming, so is careful not to push yourself too hard.
- Swimming Decelerates the Aging Process
Swimming is one of the most relaxing, beneficial, and beneficial exercises out there. A 2012 study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise discovered that swimming supports cardiovascular fitness, strength, and flexibility better than other sports such as running or cycling. Swimming is also low impact, making it a great option for those who struggle with joint or bone problems.
- Swimming is Beneficial for Asthmatic Individuals
Swimming can help ease asthma symptoms, according to new guidelines from the AHA and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. The new guidelines say asthmatics aged 3 and older who can’t tolerate asthma medications, like corticosteroids, can swim when symptoms are mild to moderate. Swimming can also reduce the risk of asthma attacks, and new guidelines say asthmatics should try swimming for moderate exercise at least three times a week.
- Swimming Boosts Confidence
Swimming builds self-esteem. Swimming is not just a fun hobby but a sport that can teach you skills that can help you in all areas of your life. Once you learn how to swim, you build more confidence in your ability to swim and in your ability to do anything. You can swim for fitness, competition, or relaxation. Once you learn to swim, you may never want to stop.
- Minimal Equipment and Gear
We’re starting to think minimalism is the new black. After all, slow living is on the rise, and more and more people don’t want to accumulate a bunch of stuff. Minimalism is also environmentally friendly: it lessens the environmental impact of manufacturing and disposal, as well as has a positive effect on our mental health.
Swimming is not only fun and a healthy activity to do, but it also has numerous other benefits as well. Swimming helps to improve your muscle strength and endurance. Swimming also helps to improve your cardiovascular endurance, as well as helps you to tone and strengthen your muscles. Additionally, swimming helps you to develop a better sense of balance and coordination. Swimming also helps to increase your heart rate and your metabolism.