Many of us learn to swim at a young age, either through private lessons or through lessons at school, however when it comes to getting or keeping fit, it’s much more common to hear of people going running or cycling than hitting the swimming pool. Swimming, however, has some fantastic health benefits and, in our opinion, should always be considered a vital part of any health or fitness plan. As such, we thought we’d take a look at exactly what the main health benefits of swimming are in order to encourage our readers to get in the pool!
Swimming, above all, is a fantastic all round way of exercising. An hour in the swimming pool will benefit both your body and your mind and, in addition, is a lot more fun than many forms of exercise are! Whether you’re looking to get fit, lose weight or generally just maintain a level of fitness and activeness; there’s no doubting that swimming is for you.
Looking at the health benefits of swimming; recent reports issued by the ASA (the national body for everything swimming related) have suggested that regular swimming can help to reduce the risk of chronic illnesses and is also likely to keep you generally feeling fit and well.
Due to the nature of swimming, which works the majority of your bodies muscles, your heart, your lungs and, in fact, most of your body; regular sessions in the pool are thought to reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease, strokes and even type 2 diabetes. There’s certainly the health benefits to be had from swimming and these go way beyond simply keeping fit.
In addition to these obvious health benefits of swimming; they’re certainly not the only ones! It’s said by many that swimming helps them to clear their mind and offers a sense of mental wellbeing. This, of course, is one of the many reasons why swimming is such a popular way of keeping fit and, when you combine both the physical and mental health benefits of the sport; you can clearly see why it’s an activity which you should undoubtedly be undertaking if you want to stay active and in good health.
Whether you’re simply looking for an activity to enable you to try something different to keep fit or are looking for something more suited to your needs (for example swimming is fantastic for those with conditions such as arthritis due to the support the water gives), the best thing to do is give it a try! You’ll almost certainly find that you love swimming and that it helps to clear your head and generally keep you feeling in good health.
This guest post comes to you courtesy of Aqua Warehouse, a UK based suppliers of swimming spas for those wanting to swim at their own homes.