Swimming can offer several physical and mental health benefits, such as supporting your heart and lungs and reducing anxiety.
However, we often hear people asking as to what the real benefits of swimming as an outdoor sport are. Does it even have actual effects on the body or is counted as an activity intended for relaxation. This article explores the top ten benefits of swimming as a sport.
Swimming is an excellent way to work your entire body and cardiovascular system. Depending on the pace, an hour of swimming can burn a comparable number of calories to an hour of running, without the impact on your bones and joints. There are a host of benefits you may gain from swimming laps regularly.
Top 10 Benefits of Swimming
1) A Full-body Workout
One of the biggest benefits of swimming is that it works your entire body. You can use various strokes to add variety to your swimming workout – backstroke, freestyle, butterfly, sidestroke. Each of them focuses on different muscle groups, and the water provides a gentle resistance. No matter what stroke you swim with, you’re using most of your muscle groups to move your body through the water.
2) Improves Heart & Lung Health
A scientific study done in 2024 found that swimming improved cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition. In older individuals, swimming tends to improve their cardiovascular endurance. Breathing exercises associated with swimming, like holding your breath, helps to you expand your lung capacity and improve respiration.
It also aids to protect the lungs from the harmful effects associated with smoking and breathing issues.
3) Reduces Back Pain in People
Some scientific reports have showcased that swimming tends to support people with back pain, especially of the lower back. However, in order to avoid any adversity, it is always advisable to have a doctor’s approval before beginning or resuming any exercise program.
4) Helps People with Arthritis
People with arthritis may also find water-based exercises like swimming beneficial compared to land exercises. Water makes the limbs buoyant, helping to support them during exercise. It also provides gentle resistance, and warm water may be especially effective in relieving pain.
5) Helps to Burn Calories
Swimming is definitely a great workout form to burn those excess calories and help to keep the weight in check. On an average, a person may burn up to 250-300 calories every 30 minutes spent swimming laps at a moderate to vigorous pace respectively.
For people looking to shed weight, this activity may seem like the perfect start to burn the calories in a holistic manner.
6) Helps Reduce Anxiety
A 2022 study found that aquatic exercise can boost mental health by improving mood and reducing anxiety, with even light exercise making a difference. However, the researchers noted that more high-quality studies are needed to verify these findings.
7) Beneficial Against Neurological Irregularities
Another verified scientific study found that moderate-to-high intensity aerobic exercise, like swimming, can benefit people with Alzheimer’s disease. A small 2018 study indicated that swimming empowers individuals with dementia while relieving their caretakers’ sense of responsibility.
8) Helpful for Kids
For young kids and adolescents, being exposed to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise each day is required. Swimming is a fun activity and doesn’t necessarily feel like formal working out, which may be more palatable for kids. They can take up structured classes or enjoy it as an informal activity.
9) Affordable Activity
Swimming may turn out to be an affordable exercise option compared to some others, like gyms or Pilates. Many pools offer reasonable rates to join, with some academies and schools offering swim hours for free, or for a sliding scale according to your income.
10) Improves Posture & Balance
Swimming as a sporting activity is known to show high efficacy in improving your body’s posture and balance – as being in water helps to enhance the buoyancy level, control the body’s ability to make use of the limbs in a better manner – which thereby greatly make your overall posture better. The pain from shoulders, upper back is lessened and the core muscles get tightened more effectively.
In order to take up swimming as a sport – whether as a hobby, interest or deep passion, you must have access to a proper and hygienic swimming pool to learn the art of swimming. For a beginner, taking up swimming classes (in private or a group setting) may be the ideal path to gain familiarity the activity – through techniques, breathing exercises, develop water-friendliness and create a liking for the sport.
Swimming is safe for most people. However, if you’re injured or have certain medical conditions (skin condition or otherise), be sure to check with a doctor before swimming laps.
