How Swimming Makes Us Happy and Healthy
"Swimming is a way for us to remember how to play," Bonnie Tsui wrote in her 2020 book Why We Swim.
In fact, for many people, memories of swimming are often playful ones: spending long days on the beach, playing in the waves, or jumping into a pool.
But there's more to swimming than just fun. Some experts even say it might be the best type of exercise we can do — no matter how old you are!
Here are some more reasons why swimming is great for you.
A swim session will typically give you a full-body workout, because pushing yourself through the water requires lots of different muscles working together — including the muscles in your arms, legs, shoulders and more.
"It's probably safe to assume that if you can name a muscle, it's likely used at some point during swimming," Mitch Lomax, a sports physiologist at the University of Portsmouth, told National Geographic.
Swimming is also a low-impact sport, meaning it doesn't put a lot of strain on the body's joints — so you can strengthen your muscles with a lower risk of getting injured than with other sports, such as weightlifting.
Research has shown that swimming can reduce a person's risk of heart attack and stroke, by improving circulation in the body and increasing the heart's efficiency.
When you swim, your heart rate increases — and while it may feel quite hard to breathe after a difficult swim session, that just means your lungs are working harder! This increases your lung capacity, and strengthens the heart.
Swimming is not only good for the body — it's also good for the mind. It's been found to help people feel less depressed or anxious, and also improves sleep.
But how?
According to some studies, when our bodies move through water, our brains release serotonin and dopamine, hormones that increase feelings of happiness.
