What Are the Mind and Body Benefits of Swimming? (2023)

Swimming is considered the perfect exercise. After all, you can get all the benefits of an aerobic workout without damaging your joints, and almost anyone can do it.

It's used by athletes to stay strong and fit when recovering from injury and it doesn't require any fancy equipment, just you and the deep blue.

There are far more benefits to swimming than the obvious benefits seen on the surface; your improvements in overall health are much more profound. So let's take a deep breath and dive into the benefits of swimming for both body and mind.

10 benefits of swimming for body and mind

1. Swimming improves endurance and strength

Swimming is a low-impact form of exercise that helps build cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength.^[1]Swimming requires a high level of endurance as the entire body needs to move through the water while the legs kick and the arms pull. As the back lengthens and twists, the stomach contracts to propel the legs and stabilize the core, making swimming one of the best cardio exercises for a full-body workout.

2. Swimming increases bone mass

For years, researchers scoffed at the idea that swimming affected bone mass. After all, only weight-bearing exercise could provide that benefit, right? Not according to one in the published studyJournal of Applied Physiology. Because there are ethical reasons to avoid detailed bone testing in humans, the study mice were divided into three groups: running, swimming, and a control group with no exercise stimulation.

While running still showed the greatest increase in BMD (bone mineral density), the swimming group also showed advantages over the control group in both BMD and femoral bone weight. While more study is needed, these new findings show that previous research dismissing swimming's bone benefits may need to be revisited.^[2]

3. Swimming helps you stay flexible

Swimming requires you to stretch, stretch, twist and push in the water. Your knuckles transform into fins that extend with each kick as you push against the pressure of the liquid. This doesn't mean you shouldn't stretch yourself, but the repetitive stretching you'll find in your various movements will also help.flexibility.

4. Swimming reduces inflammation

While the cardiovascular benefits of swimming to strengthen the heart muscle are well known, research also shows that aerobic activities like swimming reduce the inflammation that leads to the formation of atherosclerosis in the heart.^[3]

Reducing system-wide inflammation results in less disease progression in many other areas.

5. Swimming protects against burning calories

Everyone knows that swimming is a great way to burn calories, but what most don't realize is that it can be just as effective as jumping on a treadmill. Swimming can burn as many or more calories than running, depending on the type of swimming you choose and the intensity. Also, you don't have to worry about sweat getting into your eyes.

For example, a 10-minute swim burns 60 calories breaststroke, backstroke burns 80 calories, freestyle burns 100 calories, and butterfly burns 150 calories.

For comparison, running a 10-minute mile burns about 100 calories. So a solid 30-minute butterfly session can burn 150 more calories than a 5K run at the same time.

6. Swimming can relieve exercise-induced asthma

nothing is as frustrating astry to exerciseand not being able to catch your breath. Unlike training in dry gym air, or despite seasonal pollen levels, swimming allows you to breathe moist air while you work out. Not only does swimming help relieve asthma symptoms, but studies have shown that it can improve the overall condition of your lungs.

In a recent study, a group of children who completed a six-week swimming program saw improvements in symptom severity, snoring, mouth breathing, and hospital and emergency room visits. These benefits were still noticeable one year after the end of the swimming program. Even people without asthma can benefit from swimming, for example. B. increasing lung volume and learning good breathing techniques.^[4]

7. Swimming can improve your mental health and reduce stress.

Love that natural endorphin hit? While many call it the runner's high, swimming can also induce all those feel-good emotions. It's no secret that aerobic exercise is good for mental health. However, swimming seems to be one of the most beneficial options.

Swimming not only releases endorphins, but also stimulates neurogenesis in the hippocampus. It's a fancy term for "the growth of new brain cells in a part of the brain that atrophies under chronic stress."^[5]

In addition to the happy hormones, you may feel a yoga-like relaxation response when swimming. As I mentioned before, swimming stretches your body all the time. Combine this with deep, rhythmic breathing and you can experience a relaxation unique to this sport.

Swimming is also relaxing and meditative, as the sound of your breathing and the rushing water help you focus and drown out all other distractions. This naturally reduces stress and depression.

Research also shows that swimming can reverse stress-induced brain damage through a process called hippocampal neurogenesis.^[6]

So if you feel like you're drowning emotionally, jumping into a real body of water might be just what you need to get up and feeling good.

8. Swimming in salt water can be a beauty treatment for your skin

Regular swimming in salt water helps the skin retain moisture and detoxify to encourage new cell growth.^[7]You will be amazed at how soft and healthy your skin will be after an invigorating swim in the ocean.

9. Swimming can make you smarter

Of course, any exercise is good for the mind, but can swimming make you smarter?

The Australian study focused on children taking swimming lessons versus a control group of non-swimmers. Results showed that children who regularly swam were able to master language development, fine motor skills, confidence and physical development earlier than the control group.^[8]

Swimming can also help with math skills, as swimmers regularly calculate distance in heat or interval drills. It improves your addition and subtraction skills.

10. Swimming can prolong your life

While each exercise can provide more significant health and longevity benefits, studies suggest that swimming is one of the best ways to do it. Researchers at the University of South Carolina followed 40,547 men ages 20 to 90 for more than 32 years. The results showed that those who swam had a 50% lower mortality rate than runners, walkers or men who didn't exercise.^[9]

Benefits of swimming in cold water

Cold water swimming is swimming in a pool, lake or pond when it is cooler. According to several researchers and scientists, swimming in cold water has many benefits. Cold water helps to increase the white blood cell count as the body is forced to respond to changing conditions.^[10]

Swimming in cold water also cleans the veins, arteries and capillaries. It pushes the blood to the surface and pushes the cold down. In other words, it helps warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the cold. Many studies have shown us the connection between cold water and stress reduction. Whatever you're facing - stress, anxiety, uncertainty - can fade away with the silent exhaustion of a good series of laps in cold water.^[11]

How does the brain react to swimming?

Swimming and brain health go hand in hand as it is ameditative exercise. Your brain function improves through a process known as hippocampal neurogenesis, in which the brain replaces cells lost through stress. When you enter the water, your spirits will be instantly lifted by the freshness of the water and you will be freed from fatigue and depression.

A recent study by Dr. Howard Carter from the School of Sport Science at the University of Western Australia shows how the brain reacts to swimming. The team of scientists, led by Carter, hypothesized that immersion in water up to the level of the right atrium of the heart would increase the blood supply to the brain. The right atrium is on the upper right side of the heart and is one of the four chambers of the heart. The right atrium receives blood from two main veins: the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava.

The function of these two veins is to return the blood which supplied oxygen to various parts of the body; the returning blood is therefore oxygen-poor. The coronary sinus, a smaller vein in the wall of the heart, also supplies blood to the right atrium.^[12]

"We found that cerebral blood flow is greater when subjects are immersed in water at heart level compared to when they are on land, which set the stage for further investigation of its effects on cerebrovascular health," said Dr. Howard Carter inThe American Journal of Physiology.

While participants were submerged in water, blood flow to the middle cerebral arteries increased by 14%, while blood flow to the posterior cerebral arteries increased by 9%.

"Like land training, different types of water activities like water aerobics and swimming have slightly different effects on heart function and cerebral blood flow," says Carter.

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The act of swimming requires the use of virtually all of our senses, including sight, sound, touch and smell. This is a rare opportunity to take a break from your electronic devices. When the water flows over us, it is very relaxing, almost like a massage. Simply put, swimming is a great way to de-stress and be more present in the moment.

Jump in the pool if you're just starting an exercise routine or want to shake things up. Regular swimming brings numerous physical, mental and emotional benefits. Do you feel motivated to take these glasses now? The water is great!

Featured photo credits:Unsplash via unsplash.com