What are the Health Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is a sport that can have a variety of benefits not only for your body, but also for many other aspects of life. Swimming can benefit a person, mentally, socially, and can keep a person safe from harm.

Physical

Physically, swimming can have many benefits to the body. Swimming is a great way to exercise as it uses many different muscle groups and works all parts of the body. It is a true full body workout, it works the arms, legs, and core and works different muscles in these areas depending on which stroke you are swimming. It is also a non-weight bearing exercise, so it is easy on the joints and is less likely to cause joint pain and injury. Swimming is also unlikely to cause injuries such as bone fracture or muscle tear and most injuries from swimming are typically muscle soreness and aches. Therefore, swimming is a safe and healthy activity that is low impact.

Swimming can also help to boost health by helping people to lose weight and improve blood sugar levels, as well as decrease blood pressure and heart rate when it is done consistently for exercise. This in turn leads to a decreased incidence of overweight and obesity, and keeps the heart and lungs healthy long-term.

Mental

Swimming is a really good way to decrease stress and anxiety. Swimming helps the body produce hormones that help to decrease pain and boost mood. This helps to put the mind at ease and to decrease stress. It is also a quiet and personal exercise where one can focus on the strokes and breathing and forget about worries. It can also be a good time to think through problems and come up with solutions or calm down after a long day. Swimming also increases discipline and focus, as it takes a while to master and requires frequent practice to perfect. The discipline that comes from learning how to swim can penetrate into other areas of life, such as in school, work, or even into diet and self-care. Swimming can teach you how to keep calm in stressful situations and stay mindful in your actions.

Safety

The most important thing that learning how to swim provides is safety. This is because your risk of drowning and water related incidents decrease significantly when you know how to swim. If you know how to swim, you can be safe near or in bodies of water, and can safely watch over those who are in bodies of water as well to a certain extent. This decreases fear and anxiety surrounding water and it creates a wide range of opportunities that are only available by being able to be safe in the water. This can include swimming, but also generally playing in the pool and other water-related activities. Accidents happen, but you are far less likely to have an accident in or around the water when you know how to swim and stay safe around the water.

Swimming is a great sport that is a healthy aerobic exercise and provides a multitude of health benefits both physically and mentally. This includes increased heart and lung health, building muscles throughout the body, and decreasing weight. It can also help to decrease anxiety and stress, and provides hormones to make you feel less pain and promote a better mood. Swimming can also promote increased discipline and focus, which can penetrate into other aspects of life such as work, school, and even diet. Swimming also ensures that you feel safe in and around the water, which means that you can participate in open water-related activities with decreased fear and anxiety. Swimming is a wonderful, enjoyable activity that can be done any time of day throughout the lifetime. It is a great sport with a great variety of benefits!

If you or your child does not know how to swim or you need some assistance refining your stroke technique, try private swim lessons with one of our experienced swimming instructors today!

Stephanie Mitchell’s bio:

Swim Instructor in West Hollywood, CA

Hi, my name is Stephanie and I've been teaching swim lessons for 10 yrs and coaching for 2 yrs. The age range is from 1 yr- high school age. I have experience with children of all ages for 5 yrs. I also have worked as a dietician at a children's hospital. I was a competitive swimmer from age 9-20. I went to Penn State for my undergrad and University of Alabama for grad school and earned my Masters degree in Human Nutrition in 2015.