Today, let’s take a break from our usual interviews and safety guides to talk about something near and dear to our hearts: the health benefits of swimming! After all, we’ve told you the benefits of swimming lessons… let’s talk about why you might want to start doing some laps!
Swimming: A Perfect Exercise?
Many health experts consider swimming to be a near-perfect form of exercise. You see, swimming is a total body workout. Rather than focusing on a small area at a time, it actually targets almost every area of your body. It’s also extremely healthy for your heart.
What are the Health Benefits of Swimming?
If you aren’t convinced yet, here are our top 5 reasons why swimming should be your new method of exercise:
1) Burn Calories With Ease
Let’s start with the obvious. Swimming is s a great way to get in shape! In just one hour of swimming, you can burn up to 500 calories. With jogging, you can only burn up to 398 calories in an hour. If you are swimming, forget about getting all sweaty! Swimming will keep you cool while burning a ton of calories.
2) Swimming is Calming
Breathe in. One of the hidden health benefits of swimming is that it’s remarkably calming. Swimming can provide a daily dose of meditation and exercise all in one! Take a break from the daily stressors of life and surround yourself with the cool, soothing water.
And besides, whatever type of exercise you’re doing, you’re releasing endorphins. These work to create a happier and healthier you!
Now, breathe out!
3) Swimming is Low Impact
For many people with joint pains or injuries, exercise can be a painful endeavor. That’s where swimming shines. Forget about the muscle strains that exercises like running and jumping can cause. Swimming is incredibly low-impact on your body. Glide through the water without any discomfort.
4) Build Muscle & Get Toned
Of course, don’t let the “low impact” aspect of swimming make you think it’s not a powerful tool for your health! As we mentioned earlier, swimming is a full body workout. It targets almost every muscle group. Not to mention, building muscle is essential as your grow older to maintain a healthy body and live a long life.
So instead of heading to the gym to use several different machines for your next workout, try swimming works to strengthen every muscle, all in one exercise.
5) Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
Finally, people with good cardiovascular health have a decreased risk for heart attack and heart disease. Swimming requires more breath control than any other exercise. Therefore, it will get your lungs and heart working hard. Research has shown that there’s a link between swimmers and better lung capacity. When your lungs are healthy, your body processes oxygen better. All those breathing benefits come without taking a single CPR class. (Of course, you should be CPR certified, but we’ve covered the importance of CPR in previous posts!)
So there you have it. Those are just a few of the many health benefits of swimming. It’s time to hit the water!
Of course, if you don’t have a pool, contact your local community center, gym, or YMCA. Ask whether they have a supervised pool with swim lanes. Believe it or not, most do! Just be sure that you properly check out that public pool before jumping right into the water! You still need to stay safe.
Finally, if you are new to swimming for exercise and have no idea where to begin, we suggest that you check out this Lifehacker article for swim workout routines for beginners. Good luck and safe swimming!
