Swimming is probably one of the best ways for you to get exercise. It is not only good for your joints, but it is also easy enough for people of all ages. When you are swimming, you’re submerged in water, which means your bones and muscles have less constraints when it comes to gravity. This is great for people who have a sports injury or are afflicted with osteoarthritis, which can make exercising excruciatingly painful.
According to research from the American Journal of Cardiology, there is research that links swimming with lower blood pressure among people with hypertension. At O’Connor Health Center in San Jose, we strive to educate our clients on the best forms of exercising. There are certain exercises that are not good for everyone. Though, swimming has many benefits to overall health go that go much deeper than the surface.
8 benefits of swimming
- Swimming builds up muscle strength throughout the entire body. While swimming, we utilize more muscle groups to be able to move through the water. You’re using your legs, arms, back, stomach, and core. All these muscles are contracting and working together in order to stay afloat, which makes swimming a great aerobic exercise. Another good thing is that it works out underworked muscles, including the deep stabilizing muscles in your core and lower back. Google “swimmer’s body” is you needed proof.
- Though swimming isn’t a weight bearing exercises, something generally recommended when wanting to build of bone tissue, there have been studies that show that swimming showed benefits to overall bone health. Though there needs to be more research done, especially in order to debunk previous research dismissing swimming’s benefits for bones.
- Swimming has a lot of benefits for your back. This is because you are working out horizontal, unlike when you do other aerobic exercises, where you tend to be in an upright position. Swimming might be an ideal form of exercise for those who tend to hunch over (like while sitting at a desk or during a long commute). Swimming can help you counteract all that hunching by helping improve your posture overtime.
- Exercise releases endorphins and swimming is no different. Swimming regularly can lower stress levels, reduce anxiety, help with symptoms of depression, and improve sleep. The benefits of swimming can be felt with just a light swim. Swimming is also comforting and meditative. Your breathing and the water rushing by helps you focus and drown out disruptions.
- Swimming burns calories faster than running. Depending on the swimming technique you choose, you can burn up to 150 calories after swimming for ten mins. With running, a ten-minute mile burns around 100 calories.
- Science Daily reports that research has shown that swimming aids asthma symptoms in children. Unlike sports played inside or on a field, swimming is less likely to provoke asthma attacks. Swimming is also beneficial for children without asthma, since it helps with increasing lung volume, developing good breathing techniques and improving overall fitness. Swimming also helps with adult lungs. Oxygen is at a premium when you are underwater and can help your body use oxygen more efficiently.
- On top of all it’s benefits, Time reports that it is also linked to many of the life-extending, heart-saving, mood-lifting benefits generally associated with aerobic exercise. Just thirty minutes, 2 times a week alongside a healthy diet and lifestyle is on the best ways to stay fit, both mentally and physically.