Ten Important Benefits of Swimming for Health and the Body

The ten Benefits of Swimming contact with water

THE swimming is one of the most complete forms of exercise, offering a multitude of health and fitness benefits. Let's look at the ten main advantages that contact with water offers:

1. Minimal Strain on the Skeletal System

In relation to other aerobic forms of sports, swimming has the great advantage that it does not stress the body's skeletal system at all. The secret lies in the buoyancy of the water, which pushes the body upwards. In this way, our weight is reduced to a very large extent. This means that the swimming pool is the ideal place to fight muscle stiffness and joint pain, since the water itself helps us to exercise. In short, swimming can "stretch" and exercise the muscles, but also relieve arthritic pains at the same time.

2. Increased muscle tone and strength

Compared to other training exercises, swimming offers the body more muscle strength and muscle stimulation. This is explained quite simply by the fact that water is twelve times denser than air. Thus, the body gets used to more demanding rhythms and, in addition to exercising more intensively, it is protected from minor injuries that it could suffer under other conditions.

3. Increased flexibility and elasticity

Many times we observe trained people who have lost every element of elasticity about them. Especially the exercises with weights, even though they significantly increase muscle strength, somehow "stone" the body. On the contrary, swimming helps the joints to relax and thus makes the body more flexible. Stretching the muscles is also very important and positively affects flexibility.

4. Strengthening Heart Health

In addition to the rest of the muscles it exercises, swimming also helps the most important muscle of all, the heart, function better. Swimming helps the heart pump blood more efficiently, which leads to better blood flow. Research shows that swimmers are much less likely to suffer from heart disease. The rhythm needed in the swimming process gives important benefits to heart health.

5. Weight Control

Swimming is considered one of the most effective ways to lose weight, but also to control it. Of course, the calories burned during exercise are proportional to the intensity at which we swim. But compared to other aerobic exercises, swimming is ideal for weight loss, as it burns a much higher percentage of calories.

6. The fight against asthma

Usually those who have asthma problems have difficulties during sports. The dry air of a gym doesn't help asthmatics at all. On the contrary, the aquatic environment is ideal for those who face such problems, since it can even combat them. According to a study published in the scientific journal, Respirology, when a group of children completed a six-week learning-to-swim program, they saw an improvement in the severity of their asthma symptoms, snoring and breathing.

7. Cholesterol reduction

Training in the pool can significantly help in the proper regulation of cholesterol in the body. Cholesterol is necessary in the body at low levels. However, it is not so easy to properly adjust the levels so that we have only the necessary "good" cholesterol. Swimming can keep the level of "good" cholesterol at a constant level while at the same time significantly reducing the existence of "bad" cholesterol.

8. Reduced chance of diabetes

THE Aerobic Exercise is one of the most powerful weapons against diabetes. In one study, men reduced their risk of diabetes by 61% for every 500 calories they burned doing some aerobic exercise. With just thirty minutes of front-stroke swimming three times a week, you can burn 900 calories – reducing your risk of type 2 diabetes by 101%. A study focusing on women also yielded the same benefits: Vigorous exercise just once a week reduced the risk of type 2 diabetes by 161% compared to sedentary women

9. Fighting Stress

The pleasant feelings we feel are often due to the increase in endorphins. Swimming is the sport that increases endorphins more than any other. At the same time, the relaxation offered by the water to the muscles, offers the body results corresponding to those of yoga. In addition to the… “metaphysical” benefits of swimming, research has shown that it can actually change the brain for the better through a process known as hippocampal neurogenesis, in which the brain replaces cells lost due to stress.

10. Increases chances of life extension

It may not be completely confirmed, but there is quite a bit of evidence that swimming helps prolong life. Researchers from the University of South Carolina conducted a survey involving 40,547 men, aged 20 to 90. They concluded that swimmers lived longer, on average, than runners, walkers and men who did not exercise at all. The study authors concluded that the same benefits apply to the female gender.

Swimming is one of the most complete forms of exercise, offering a wide range of health and wellness benefits, making it an ideal choice for people of all ages.