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An aquatic sport, swimming is one of the best ways to exercise as well as relax.
Both an aerobic as well as an anaerobic exercise and a calorie-burning activity, it is easy on the joints, helps maintain a healthy weight and builds muscle strength and endurance.
Additionally, swimming improves cardiovascular fitness, cools and refreshes you in the summer, and is safe for people of all ages. If you want to reduce the risk of injury and overall strain on your body, you should consider swimming.
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Heath Benefits of Swimming
Here's a look at seven health benefits of this aquatic activity that can make you want to dive right in:
1) Works out your entire body
Swimming is one of the few exercises that work out your entire body, from head to toe. It increases your heart rate, tones your muscles and builds strength and endurance.
You can also add a lot of variety to your routine by including various strokes like breaststroke, backstroke, sidestroke, butterfly and freestyle.
All these exercises can target distinct muscle groups, with water providing gentle resistance. Regardless of the stroke, you use most of your muscle groups to propel your body through the water.
2) Great calorie-burner exercise
Swimming is an efficient calorie-burning activity. A person weighing 160 pounds burns approximately 423 calories per hour while completing laps at a moderate or slow pace.
At a more vigorous pace, the same person can burn up to 715 calories per hour. A 200-pound individual engaging in the same activity would expend between 528 and 880 calories per hour. A person weighing 240 pounds may burn between 632 and 1,068 calories per day.
When you swim at your own pace, every muscle in your body is exercised without straining them. Swimming increases metabolism, decreases body fat, builds and preserves lean muscle tissue and improves the body's ability to utilise fat as fuel.
3) Improves sleep
Swimming can improve your nighttime sleep. In a study of older adults with insomnia, regular aerobic exercise was associated with improvements in both quality of life and sleep.
That's excellent news, as nearly half of older adults suffer from some degree of insomnia. The research centered on all forms of aerobic exercise, such as the elliptical, stairmaster, bicycle, pool and exercise videos.
The sport is accessible to a wide variety of individuals with physical limitations that make other exercises, such as running, less desirable. Older adults wanting to enhance the quality of their sleep can take up swimming with little to no risk of injury.
4) Boosts mood and helps manage stress
Swimming is an excellent mental health and wellness activity. It can be a meditative activity, and the weightlessness of water has a calming effect on the mind.
The regular rhythm of the stroke, immersion in the water, and concentration inthe technique quickly resemble a meditative state of mind in the aquatic activity. It aids in providing a diversion from life and enhances mindfulness.
The results of studies conducted to determine whether swimming has an effect on mental health indicate that it can help relieve stress rapidly and effectively.
5) Improves your flexibility
One of the most effective mediums for enhancing flexibility is water. Due to factors including buoyancy, resistance and temperature, water has long been acknowledged as a means of enhancing flexibility.
Instead of bulking up the muscles, the fluidity of the movements helps to lengthen and stretch them, giving them the impression of being more toned, healthy and robust.
6) Great exercise for people with asthma
As an aerobic activity, swimming increases your lung capacity. As water is denser than air, your lungs must work harder to supply sufficient oxygen to your blood.
That provides a good workout for your lungs, making them stronger. Additionally, swimming improves breathing and alleviates asthma symptoms. Swimming should be introduced to young children to help reduce the risk of asthma.
7) Safe for pregnant women
Swimming is a great exercise for pregnant women and their babies. That's because it strengthens the heart and makes it more efficient in pumping blood, improves circulation to the entire body and increases blood oxygen levels. Swimming is low-impact and kind to the body.
As you exercise, the water keeps you from overheating and prevent injury by supporting your joints and ligaments, which is particularly beneficial for pregnant women with ligament pain. The buoyancy of water allows you to feel weightless despite the additional load.
It also counteracts the back strain caused by your expanding stomach. Pregnancy can cause the spine and shoulders to round forward and the pelvis to tilt out of alignment, but this aquatic sport can gently strengthen the muscles and counteract this tendency. Immersion in water reduces swelling in the arms and legs, making it one of the safest and most enjoyable forms of exercise.
The aformentioned seven health benefits of swimming can make all the difference in your fitness regime. So get ready to relax, and increase your stamina, muscular strength and endurance with swimming.
