What Are the 10 Benefits of Swimming?

Swimming is often considered the perfect exercise. As an aerobic activity, it offers many benefits without making damaging impacts on your joints. But that’s not the only benefit of swimming. There are plenty of hidden swimming benefits that many people may not be aware of.

So, what are these advantages? Fair & Square Pools has shared some of them below, so keep reading to learn more.

Is Swimming Beneficial For Everyone?

Yes, swimming is great for everyone who can do it! It’s an excellent all-around exercise that not only improves your physical health but also helps enhance your mental health, focus, and coordination. So, whenever you have the opportunity, go swimming!

Swimming Benefits

1. Great for Cardiovascular Health

Since swimming is an aerobic exercise, it’s excellent at building cardiovascular endurance. Good endurance means a stronger heart, and it takes longer for you to tire out when doing exercise.

2. Low Physical Impact, High Health Impact

Since you’re floating on water, your joints won’t have to suffer damaging impacts like they would during running or jogging. This is great for those who already experience arthritis and other joint issues.

3. Burns Lots of Calories

When you’re swimming, you’re using almost all muscle groups in the body. Your arms, chest, and back all move in each stroke, and your core works to stabilize you in the water. Finally, your legs facilitate movement. This holistic muscle activation results in more calories burned than running. Watch those pounds shed as you swim more consistently!

4. Beneficial to People With Asthma

Most other types of aerobic exercises aren’t ideal for people with asthma. That’s because breathing quickly dries the airways, resulting in irritation. However, this issue doesn’t happen with swimming. Since you’re in the water, the moisture in the air reduces the dryness, even if you’re breathing rapidly. This applies to both home pools and open water.

5. Strengthens Muscles

Ever wonder why swimmers have such characteristic toned bodies? That’s because swimming is great at muscle building, not just cardiovascular health. Water is a dense material, and moving the body through it induces microtears in the muscles. When the cells repair the damage, you get bigger, more defined muscles.

6. Improves Flexibility

When you swim, you stretch the whole body. The movements require you to twist your torso, extend your arms, and pull your way through the water. All these actions combined will help you improve your range of motion and flexibility, which then helps you avoid injuries and perform more extensive types of movements.

7. Gives You a Better Night’s Sleep

Aerobic exercises, in general, are excellent at helping you achieve eight hours of sleep. Since swimming uses more energy compared to other exercises, you’ll end up feeling tired much faster even after just a few hours in the water. There’s also evidence showing that swimming can help reduce the symptoms of sleep apnea.

8. Improves Mental Health

Exercises like swimming help improve our mood and decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression. When we perform a demanding physical activity, the brain releases endorphins and dopamine — the feel good hormones. The increased blood supply to the brain also improves executive function.

9. Not Expensive as Other Exercises

One thing that may discourage people from doing regular exercise is expensive gym memberships, equipment, and machines. Thankfully, swimming is free if you’re near a body of water. If you have your own pool at home, then you can practically swim any time you want. For those without pools or access to lakes or the ocean, membership at your local rec center or community pools are relatively affordable in general.

10. May Lengthen Your Lifespan

The benefits of exercising all accumulate towards achieving a longer life span. However, there is a study showing that those who swim regularly are 50% more likely to live longer than those who just walked or ran during the research duration . So if you’d like to live longer, swimming is a great addition to your routine.

Find Out How Much You Need to Pay for an AZ Pool

Now that you know about the benefits of swimming, you might be considering building your own pool in Arizona. Turn to Fair & Square Pools! We are trusted Arizona pool builders and pool contractors specializing in custom pool design and installation at low costs. Request a quote now!