Swimming is one of the best if not THE best sports for all around fitness training. In a world where many of the sports these day are rolling with injuries, swimming is a sport where you can expect less injuries and reap more rewards. Here is just a sampling of the physical, mental and emotional benefits of swimming on a regular basis:
The Physical Benefits of Swimming
- Lowers blood pressure
- Reduces bad cholesterol and raises good cholesterol
- Aids in weight loss and weight maintenance
- Is easier on the joints than impact sports
- Benefits your immune system
- Preserves and improves functional capacity
- Strengthens muscles thanks to the greater resistance of water
- Makes your heart a better and more efficient pump
- Improves flexibility
- Slows down the aging process
- Reduces your risk for heart disease and diabetes
- Reduces chronic pain, particularly from arthritis
- Improves muscle imbalances
- Develops lung capacity and helps COPD and asthma
- Exercises nearly every muscle in the body, especially if you swim all four strokes
- Lowers cortisol
- Improves sleep
- Allows you to exercise when pregnant
- Eliminates the risk of falling or being hit by a car
The Mental Benefits of Swimming
- Enhances the connections between left and right hemispheres
- Prevents brain shrinkage
- Can help you make new brain cells
- Improves problem solving skills and memory
- Reduces stress
- Allows you to be disconnected in an increasingly overconnected world
- Reduces depression and anxiety
- Improves self-control and willpower which can translate to the rest of life
- Offers relaxation through the repetitive nature of movement
- Improves self esteem
- Improves mental toughness
The Emotional and Social Benefits of Swimming
- All different levels can exercise in the same pool at the same time
- There are toys such as kickboards and pull buoys and snorkels and fins to make a workout different and exciting and easier or harder as need be
- It’s just plain fun!
- You get used to seeing yourself in a swimsuit
- You can do it when it is dark and cold outside
- It’s uniting, not dividing—we all rest at the same wall
- It’s adaptable, and you can do different workouts depending on how you feel
- It’s a lifetime sport
Take a look at our home swim spas and see for yourself the rewards of swimming.
