9 Health Benefits of Swimming
Tone up, sleep better and even feel happier by taking a dip in your local pool. Swimming is healthy for both the mind and the body. Here’s why swimming is one of the best forms of exercise you should take up!
1. Manage weight
Swimming is a great low intensity and cardiovascular workout for the summer. 30 min of breaststroke can help you burn around 367 calories if you weigh approx 65kgs, which is way more than what you can burn in 30 min of walking, cycling or running.
2. Improves flexibility
Swimming involves reaching, stretching, twisting and pulling your way through the water. Your ankles act as fins and help you stretch with each kick as you push off against liquid pressure. These repetitive stretches with every stroke help maintain flexibility.
3. Reduces stress and boosts your mood
Studies show that swimming releases feel-good hormones i.e endorphins. So a swimmer ( amateur or professional ) is less prone to tension, depression, anger or confusion.
4. It turns back your biological clock
Regular swimmers are 20 years younger than what their driver’s license says. According to the scientists, swimming affects blood pressure, cholesterol levels, cardiovascular performance, central nervous system health, cognitive functioning, muscle mass, blood chemistry and maintains it similar to that of your younger self. Who needs an anti-wrinkle cream?
When you’re in the pool, your arms are all over the place which helps you work on your otherwise neglected lats, deltoids and traps. Plus swimming is also about staying balanced in water which helps you develop the deep stabilising muscles in your core and lower back.
6. Increases endurance and stamina
It increases your endurance capacity by increasing your ability to take in oxygen efficiently. This means you can run faster and for a longer period of time. Swimming trains your glutes, hamstrings, core and your shoulders. All of which are also needed for improved running form and performance.
7. A Cure for Asthma
Nothing can be as frustrating as trying to exercise and being unable to breathe. Unlike working out in dry gym air, swimming allows you to breathe moist air. This not only alleviates asthma symptoms but also improves the overall condition of our lungs.
8. It widens your parameters of adventure sports
Want to base jump or swim across the San Francisco Bay? Go snorkelling in the Bahamas or become a certified Scuba diver in Indonesia? Mastering swimming will help you do all that. Swimming is a life skill. It opens you up to awesome experiences
9. Bursting the myth about chlorine
If you make sure to moisturise before and after a dive, swimming can be beneficial for your skin. Although overexposure of chlorine can dry your skin out, just the adequate amount of chlorine kills acne-causing bacteria.
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