The benefits of swimming + my personal experience

Prsna Hirani-Shah | 21 August 2022

Hi to anyone reading this, sorry I've been gone for a while but I am back with another blog. This time I wanted to discuss something I am really passionate about. If you didn't guess from the title, I will be sharing 8 benefits of swimming but will also be sharing my personal experience with it too. So grab your goggles and swimsuit and let's jump right in (pun intended)!

1. Improves Mental health

For me, this is the best part of the swimming experience. Although more research is needed on this, researchers agree that swimming is beneficial for relieving stress (Marcin, 2017). Trust me, this is definitely the case, whenever I've felt like things were getting too much, going for a swim really helped my mental state. It doesn't stop there, not only does it alleviate stress but it also boosts your mood. Sure, it will leave you feeling tired afterwards but your mood is sure to be great!

2. Full body workout

Another positive side to swimming is the physical health benefits. Swimming works pretty much all of your muscles from head to toe. It's said to (Marcin, 2017):

• Increase your heart rate without putting stress on the body

• Tone up your muscles

• Build strength

• Increase endurance

Here is a small list of strokes you can use to vary your workout:

• Backstroke (be careful of where you're going)

• Breaststroke

• Butterfly (it's killer!)

• Sidestroke

• Freestyle/front crawl

My personal favourite is front crawl :)

Here is a link that explains all the different strokes if you are new to swimming: https://swimjim.com/blog/8-different-swimming-styles-strokes/

3. Cardiovascular + pulmonary benefits

When I said full body, I meant full body. Swimming strengthens internal muscles like the heart, helping to lower blood pressure and to control blood sugar. Further, it also strengthens the lungs and increases lung capacity. Swimmers have around half the risk of death compared with inactive people. Get swimming people!

4. alternative for injuries and mobility issues

This is another really helpful benefit. Swimming, unlike certain other physical activities, is a safe option for those with:

• Arthritis

• Injuries

• Disability

• Any other mobility issues

Swimming is an alternative option of exercise for those who have the above but it can also be an effective way to reduce pain and potentially heal from injuries.

This, like the mental health improvement, has helped me a lot in the past and still does today. For people struggling with sciatic problems or any other back problems, this may help to decrease the pain or in my case (hopefully yours too) get rid of it completely. Although it may take a few swimming sessions to heal, it's definitely worth giving it a shot. My advice would be to start very slow, test the waters (pun intended again 😊) and see what feels right to you and your body.

5. Improves your sleep

Swimming is proven to have the power to help you to sleep better. This is the case with any aerobic/cardio exercise. It may even help people, especially the elderly with their insomnia (Marcin, 2017), which is great. Who doesn't like a good night's sleep?

6. Burns calories

As a low-impact activity, swimming sure does burn a lot of calories. It can even burn more calories than walking, jogging and running within the same timeframe. Here's an example: an hour of vigorous swimming can burn approximately 715 calories depending on your body weight, whereas an hour of running can burn just over 600 (Mullen, 2022). (Maybe I'm biased but I always thought swimming is better than running, haha.)

7. PREGNANCY safe

Another upside to swimming is that it is, generally speaking, safe for pregnant people. Studies show that pregnant people who swam throughout their early to mid trimesters had a lower risk of preterm labour and congenital defects (Marcin, 2017). Also, the fact that you can float, can support you and take pressure off of your ankles, feet and maybe your back too. But with any activity during pregnancy, please check with your doctor beforehand.

8. gOOD OPTION FOR PEOPLE WITH asthma

Indoor swimming facilities are usually quite humid, so it's a viable activity for people with asthma. As mentioned previously, this improves lung capacity and may help to take more control over your breathing. The downside to this would be the chemicals used to treat the water, they could increase the risk, so if possible, find a venue that uses salt water instead of chlorine.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the benefits of swimming and learnt something useful from this. In the words of Nicki Minaj - it looks like I'm going for a swim :)

Sources:

A, Marcin. (2017) 'What are the Top 12 Benefits of Swimming?', Healthline, 9 September. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/benefits-of-swimming (Accessed: 13/8/22).

G, J, Mullen. (2022) '10 Hidden Benefits of Swimming', Swimming World Magazine, 18 July. Available at: https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/10-hidden-benefits-swimming/ (Accessed: 21/8/22)