Living a healthy lifestyle is something we all know we need to do, and something we all want to do. The bad news is that it’s also something that can be difficult. Life has a way of getting in the way. It takes time, money and effort to eat genuinely healthy food, and time is something many of us don’t have when we’re done earning the money to pay for any lifestyle at all. This leaves fewer opportunities to eat well and exercise so we can maximize the health benefits of any decision we make.
A popular way to get and stay fit is swimming. Swimming is inherently low-impact and won’t leave you feeling like you’ve gone twelve rounds with a steamroller. And, as we’re going to delineate right now, it has a ton of health benefits that make it an ideal way to boost your wellness.
The physical benefits of swimming
Any health kick should be holistic, so staying in shape will involve some impact, but for many of us, high-impact training is not desirable or all that beneficial. If you have problems with your joints or connective tissue, heavier workouts can actually leave you much worse off, nursing injuries that keep you away from the gym when what you most need is to be working on your wellness. Swimming doesn’t carry that kind of toll – in fact, it is a hugely popular element of the recovery process for athletes who have been rehabbing a recent injury due to its low impact on tissues.
Not only that, though – swimming has particularly beneficial effects on cardiovascular health and respiratory wellbeing. Both of these are of fundamental importance for all-round wellness. You can’t do anything for long if your circulation and breathing aren’t in fine fettle, so some time in the pool is hugely advantageous. Furthermore, swimming has proven advantages for muscle-building and calorie-burning, meaning that the regular swimming sessions made possible by MedHawk Pools & Patio have long-term benefits for weight loss and lean muscle gain. This, again, means only good things for all other kinds of fitness.
The mental health benefits of swimming
Not only does swimming plainly benefit your physical wellbeing – it’s also excellent for mental health. If you are dealing with high levels of stress, then there are few better destressing treatments than a dip in the pool. It’s genuinely hard to stay in a bad mood after ten or fifteen minutes of swimming; it’s an inherently calm and sedate process that can genuinely feel cleansing. With time to spend in the pool, you’ll find that the worries and the nagging feelings disperse.
The mental health benefits of swimming are more than just a feeling or a theory. They are soundly backed by studies and consistent results. Children – and adults – with autism spectrum disorders are less likely to have problems with overstimulation the more they spend time in a swimming pool. The relaxation gained from time in a pool isn’t just beneficial for tired muscles and aching joints; it has a pronounced effect on minds that have been pushed too far, too often.
If you’re someone who is given to meditation, then there is no better place to take some you time than in a swimming pool. You know meditation is working when you feel like you could just float away for a time – and in a pool, you’re already most of the way there. When you’re in a pool, you don’t need to support your own body weight: the water takes the strain, and all you need to do is let it hold you up. The meditative experience is enhanced by allowing the water to support you.
Swimming as a family can be a great bonding experience
With all of the advantages that are provided by swimming, there should be no surprise that it has defined benefits as a family activity. Parents can bond with their younger children by helping them learn to swim in a safe environment. If you are a parent who worries about their child getting hurt as they play, swimming is an ideal pursuit, because there’s no risk of tripping or stumbling and falling somewhere that bones can be broken or knees grazed. As long as you keep a close eye on your little ones, there’s really nothing safer you could be doing.
There’s a long list of games that can be played in the pool. Marco Polo has become an iconic childhood experience, and diving for treasure is something that will help your child learn to swim underwater, making them a stronger swimmer. There are even numerous ways to construct an underwater obstacle course that can become a race; it’s a great game to play at kids’ birthday pool parties.
When you also take into account that swimming is a chilled and relaxing activity – making it ideal for honing children’s emotional health and social skills – then it’s really not hard to see why it’s considered one of the best family activities for parents with young children. You can be assured, too, that swimming is one activity that kids won’t grow out of as they move towards adolescence – toddlers, preteens and teens alike love to spend time in the pool.
Dive in!
Whatever it is that you need to improve when it comes to wellness, there is an advantage to having access to water to swim in. Every aspect of your health can benefit from it, and it’s something that can become a good habit for kids from the earliest ages. There are plenty of advantages to being a strong swimmer, but even if you just swim 20 feet at a time, you’ll encounter plenty of benefits, from calorie burning to muscle relaxation as the water massages the aches away.
So many of us swim as kids and then get away from it as our lives become busier. But if you can give yourself the chance to get back in the pool, you won’t regret it – and from now on, you’ll make sure you make the most of it.
Main Image Credit Pixabay (CC0 Licence)
