8 BENEFITS OF SWIMMING TO JUMP INTO THE WATER TODAY
Contents
Why swim? 8 benefits that will improve your life
1. Better sleep
2. Easier weight loss
3. Better flexibility
4. Effective training
5. Positive effect on mental health and mood
6. Better condition
7. Ideal for people of all ages, including pregnant women
8. Better body structure
Conclusion
Swimming is one of the popular sports and many of us enjoy it, at least on a recreational level. This happens especially in the summer, when the weather literally encourages you to cool off in lakes, reservoirs or swimming pools. In winter, various indoor pools, swimming pools or frozen lakes come into play if you are a fan of bracing yourself.
Even without it, however, swimming itself brings not only fun, but also a number of health benefits and ways to stay fit. The fact that you engage a large number of muscles also speaks in favor of swimming. In addition, it is suitable for almost everyone, regardless of body weight, thanks to less stress on the joints compared to other sports. Neither age nor physical condition plays a role in swimming. This activity can also be used by people who suffer from musculoskeletal pain and cannot, for example, run because of it. However, it is necessary to think about following the correct technique, because, for example, swimming breaststroke with the head up will not benefit our body very much.
Why swim? 8 benefits that will improve your life
Below is a list of eight benefits of swimming that will make you want to jump in the water today.
1. Better sleep
The benefits of swimming, which is an aerobic physical activity, can be seen in many areas of our lives. Sleep is no exception, which is also supported by several studies. An example is a smaller 16-week study focused on elderly people with sedentary jobs who suffered from insomnia. The group that regularly engaged in aerobic physical activity, which includes swimming, recorded better results in relation to the length and quality of sleep, as well as overall vitality.
At the same time, swimming, like other sports, can help reduce stress, the high level of which can have a negative effect on sleep. The best part is that you can observe this effect on yourself whenever you exercise. After that, you yourself will surely feel that you somehow sleep better and all problems are more solvable.
2. Easier weight loss
Many people probably know that swimming can help them burn a decent amount of calories. However, few people realize that it can be at least as effective an activity as running, which for many can be boring and unattractive.
Nevertheless, it is completely natural that everyone can enjoy a different physical activity. However, if your goal is to lose a few kilos, swimming can be not only fun, but also an effective way. To move from theory to practice, the calorie-burning benefits of swimming are best highlighted with a concrete example. The parameter MET (Metabolic equivalent of task) will help us with this, thanks to which you can calculate approximate values yourself. It expresses the energy you spend during a specific physical activity compared to a rest mode.
One MET unit represents the difficulty of an hour of lying at rest. For example, if MET is equal to 3, it means that you will burn 3 times more calories during the given activity than if you were to just lie on the couch. This means that, for example, a 70 kg man would burn 70 kcal while lying on the couch for an hour (MET = 1). However, if he were to engage in sports activity with MET 10, he would burn 700 kcal, which is already a very decent amount.
If you want to refresh your swimming training and thus support the burning of calories, for example, you can try HIIT training. Alternatively, you can set every 5th pool to 80% of maximum power. Of course, you also have to think about your swimming skills and fitness.
3. Better flexibility
It's true that swimming won't stretch your muscles like yoga or pilates, for example. Even so, it can serve as a great means of stretching. The maximum range of motion during swimming can effectively stretch shortened muscles, which will then become more flexible. It also applies to the health aspect, when a person can suffer from upper cruciate syndrome, for example. It is typical for the latter that we have shortened pectoral muscles and upper fibers of the trapezius, while the interscapular muscles are weakened. It is regular swimming that can help solve this and overall contribute to better posture and mobility of the involved joints.
4. Effective training
Swimming is not only fun, but also a decent exercise for our body. It has to overcome the resistance of the water, thus engaging many muscle groups. Depending on the swimming technique, we even work with muscles that we do not use normally or regularly. We engage the shoulders, abdomen, entire back, forearms, glutes and hamstrings. Thanks to this, you can effectively exercise the muscles of the whole body. So whether your favorite style is butterfly, breaststroke or crawl, the fact remains that it can serve as a full body workout.
Swimming also helps build strength, endurance and speed. In the case of endurance, continuous swimming training can be a great way. Speed and strength can be built thanks to speed swimming, i.e. in the HIIT way, for example.
5. Positive effect on mental health and mood
Swimming does not only bring physical benefits. Maybe you didn't even know that it can also contribute to improving your mood. In this case, the principle is similar to other types of physical activities, during which endorphins are released in our body. Thanks to them, we then feel more relaxed, happier and more at ease. If you are no stranger to swimming, you have probably already noticed these feelings in yourself many times. For example, when you felt like swimming after a hard day and somewhere between the sixth and seventh pool, your excess worries remained.
Swimming vs. mental health
Various studies have been devoted to the effect of swimming on mental health. Their findings include, for example, that:
regular doses of swimming can be an effective helper in the fight against depression
A 10-week swimming program was able to contribute to reducing anger or fatigue and improved mood or subjective feelings of well-being
swimming significantly improves mood
6. Better condition
One of the key components of swimming is optimal breathing, which affects our aerobic capacity. Regular swimming training contributes to its increase, thanks to which we can use oxygen more efficiently. The greater the adaptation to training and the greater the capacity of our lungs, the greater the volume of air we can process. As a result, this will be reflected in the improvement of the overall condition. Thanks to this, for example, you no longer get out of breath on the stairs or catch the bus with clarity. Thanks to swimming, you also work on your aerobic capacity without sweating. However, it is not only the work of the lungs, but of the entire circulatory system. Thanks to swimming, the economy of the work of the heart improves, as well as the efficiency or quantity of mitochondria, which are a kind of small power plants in every cell that produce energy.
7. Ideal for people of all ages, including pregnant women
One of the key advantages of swimming over other physical activities is that the water floats our body, so our limbs carry only a fraction of our weight. This is a low-load exercise that does not put pressure on the spine, does not burden the skeletal system, joints, knees or hips. It can therefore be ideal for older people and the NHS (National Health Service) recommends it for pregnant women for the same reasons.
Reducing the load allows swimmers to more easily move their limbs to their full range. Regular swimming training can thus help to maintain elasticity and flexibility, but also exercise stabilizing muscles, which are important for maintaining overall vitality not only in older people. This statement is also supported by a study that followed men older than 70 years and compared a group of swimmers and non-swimmers. Those who swam were 33% less likely to fall compared to non-swimmers.
8. Better body structure
When you look at the physical condition of swimmers, it must be clear to you that the sport they practice has a clear part in their body structure. During swimming, a large number of muscles face the onslaught, which naturally leads to their development. Over time, thanks to training adaptation, you can work towards a larger proportion of muscle mass and, conversely, a smaller proportion of fat or healthier blood values. As a result, you can contribute to a better body composition and shape your figure.
Conclusion
So swimming is one of the great sports activities. Thanks to the fact that it does not burden the joints, even elderly people and pregnant women can benefit from its benefits. It is therefore suitable for everyone regardless of age. It can help us lose weight, improve our body structure or work on fitness. It will serve great as a main or additional physical activity. However, one should not forget the correct technique, which is the key to maximizing the effects of swimming on our health. If you're not sure about yours, it's definitely a good idea to hire a coach at the beginning to point you in the right direction. All that remains is to add - good luck swimming!
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