Every summer I swim in bone-aching, tooth-chattering water off the coast of Ballinskelligs’ Glen Pier. I swam through the waves to the stone steps carved into the rock on the other side and lay on my back in the dappled sunlight, Skellig glinting in the distance. It feels better than almost anything else.
It’s good for my brain space, physical strength, breathing, heart, lungs, balance, sleep, creativity, and most of all my sanity.
You may have heard experts recommend that adults get 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. Swimming is one of the best ways to train your entire body, including your heart and lungs.
The biggest benefit is that you can train your entire body from head to toe. Increase your heart rate without putting stress on your body. Tones muscles and increases strength and endurance. Each stroke trains a different muscle group, and the water provides gentle resistance.
But any stroke uses most of your muscle groups to propel you through the water. Swimming not only strengthens your muscles, but also makes your heart and lungs work harder.
Swimming is so good for you that there is evidence that the risk of death for swimmers is about half that of non-swimmers, including walkers and runners.
Studies also show that swimming is good for lowering blood pressure and controlling blood sugar levels.
It is important to get your doctor’s permission before starting an exercise program if you have an underlying medical condition, but swimming is recommended for most people who have arthritis, injury, disability, or other conditions that make high-impact exercise difficult. It has been shown to be a safe exercise option for people. .
Helps reduce pain and speed recovery after injury. A study published in the Journal Of Rheumatology (2016) showed that swimming reduced pain and joint stiffness in people with osteoarthritis.
The humid environment of a pool makes swimming suitable for people with asthma, and the breathing exercises that accompany swimming can improve lung capacity and improve breathing control.
Swimming also has a positive effect on people with multiple sclerosis. Water provides buoyancy to your limbs, providing support and gentle resistance during exercise. A study in Evidence Based Complementary Alternative Medicine (2011) reported that a 20-week swimming program significantly reduced pain and improved symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and disability.
The main benefit of regular swimming is its effect on sleep. A study of older adults with insomnia published in the journal Sleep (2011) found that participants improved both their quality of life and their sleep after doing all types of regular exercise, including swimming. I reported it.
This activity is also relatively inexpensive compared to other exercises. Many pools have affordable rates and discounts for those 65 and older. Some public pools offer free swimming time, and some employers offer special rates for joining fitness centers and pools.
Swimming is a great way to burn calories. When many people want to lose weight or get in shape, the first thing they think of is joining a gym. But you don’t have to go to the gym to transform your body. In fact, you may get better results if you do an activity you enjoy, like swimming.
A person weighing 160 pounds burns approximately 423 calories per hour while swimming at a slow or moderate pace. If you increase it to a more vigorous pace, it can increase to 715 calories per hour.
Compared to other popular low-impact activities, walking for 60 minutes at 5.5 miles per hour burns about 314 calories, while yoga burns only 183 calories per hour.
Taking a swim class to maximize your technique can help you use different muscle groups to maximize your results, as can stepping outside your comfort zone and modifying your routine. That’s an excellent method.
To keep weight down, the more physical activity you do, the better. Whether you’re walking, jogging, using cardio equipment, or swimming, we recommend aiming for 4 to 5 times a week for best results.
Experts recommend starting with 15-20 minutes of swimming every other day and gradually increasing to 30 minutes of swimming five days a week, as your body allows. If you start a new swimming routine that’s too intense, muscle soreness and fatigue may cause you to give up before you’ve actually started swimming.
More than a century ago, in 1905, the benefits of exercise as a treatment for depression were documented in the inappropriately named American Journal Of Insanity. It has since been discovered that brain chemicals released during exercise can help prevent and treat depression. These include opiates, cannabinoids, endorphins, as well as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
In Age Proof, Professor Rose Ann Kenny explains how exercise can improve self-esteem, accomplishment, control and purpose, as well as diversity, social engagement, socializing with friends, and more. It outlines how it can bring further benefits.
“Most of us have had the experience of being so tired that we can’t move and happily curl up in front of the TV before forcing ourselves to go for a walk. When we come back, we feel revived. I feel more energized. Exercise makes me feel better, even when I’m depressed.”
Not only does exercise help prevent and treat depression, there’s new evidence from neuroscience showing how exercise can grow new nerve cells. Over the past two decades, it has become clear how this happens.
Professor Kenny outlines how exercise increases the size of the hippocampus, the brain’s seat of learning and memory. Typically, in late adulthood, nerve cells begin to shrink and their number begins to decline, leading to memory loss and ultimately the risk of dementia.
“Physical activity slows the contraction of the hippocampus. Even in older adults, studies have shown that aerobic exercise training increases the size of the hippocampus, leading to improved memory. Exercise training No other product reverses age-related volume loss for up to two years.
Best of all, everything turns off when you swim in the ocean or pool. All those emails, tweets, reminders, WhatsApp messages, all the external noise that distracts you and the internal reminders that are shoved into your frontal lobe to get your attention right away.
There’s something very special about the frictionless up-and-down gliding motion that puts everything else on hold while you control your breathing and move rhythmically and smoothly underwater.
Dr. Catherine Conlon is a public health physician and former director of human health and nutrition at SafeFood.
