Ocean Blues, Fiberglass Hues

There’s nothing quite as relaxing as a quick dip in the pool.

Humans have been swimming for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptian clay seals depict people in the water, demonstrating different swimming techniques that people still use today, like “the crawl”.

Knights in the middle ages were expected to know how to swim as a matter of dignity. It was ignoble for a knight of good standing to not know how to swim.

The Romans loved swimming so much they filled the Campus Martius, a vast floodplain, with swimming pools that acted as a playground for Rome’s youths.

Even infants are born with an innate diving reflex and the ability to swim until they’re six months old. That’s how fundamental swimming is to humans.

History is filled with man’s love for the deep blue, and millions of people still enjoy swimming to this day. Unsurprisingly, it carries a host of health benefits that people of all ages can enjoy. All it takes is a little nip to a nearby swimming pool.

So What’s Special About Swimming?

Swimming by the ocean-side or in a comfortable fiberglass swimming pool is dramatically more refreshing than exercising in a stuffy, air-conditioned gym room or swelling your eyes while watching shows online on Dramacool.

A dive in a pool makes you feel refreshed and vibrant. All the fresh oxygen enveloping you soothes your soul and repairs your mind and body.

It’s both relaxing and intense, depending on how you approach it.

It doesn’t require a complex exercise regimen or high fitness level, either.

1. All the benefits of exercise without sweat.

Swimming is a unique sport. It improves your endurance, strength, and flexibility all at the same time.

Most people feel reinvigorated after their swimming sessions. Being enveloped by the water is exhilarating and lets you have an intense workout without needing to break into a sweat. There’s no better way to cool yourself than being submerged on all sides by water.

It elevates your heart rate considerably and improves circulation to all your limbs. As a full-body exercise, it’s well-rounded in building functional strength. It forces your upper and lower body to work in a constant rhythm.

Swimming is scientifically proven to improve blood sugar markers, reduce blood pressure, reduce insomnia, and fight symptoms of high cholesterol.

The act of holding your breath while swimming offers numerous benefits to your nervous system, lungs, and cardiovascular system. The diving reflex ensures that your vital organs have a steady supply of oxygen while the blood vessels to your limbs constrict during this reflex.

2. Cold shock proteins are next level.

There is increasing evidence that immersion in cold water pools can improve your immune system, accelerate muscle repair, and counter inflammation.

Cold shock proteins affect your body in unique ways that aren’t achievable via normal land-based exercises. Your brain, heart, liver, and muscles all respond to these proteins in unique ways that form the entire basis of cryotherapy treatments.

Cold water exposure also increases your brown adipose tissue, a metabolically-active fat tissue that keeps your body warm in response to coldness. These keep your skin glowing, and make your body leaner in ways you can’t achieve with regular exercise.

3. Ideal for rehabilitation

Athletes the world over incorporate swimming into their rehabilitation programs. Exercising on land with an injury or disability burdens the body and hinders healing. However, in water, two-thirds of your body are supported by the Archimedes principle in action. The water supports your body and reduces your burden. This allows rehabilitating athletes to sneak in workouts even during injuries while accelerating their recovery at the same time.

4. Reduces labor complications

The extra weight gained during pregnancy can strain the joints and muscles. All exercise becomes harder, except swimming. The water effortlessly carries baby weight and supports pregnant women even during their final months of labor.

Studies show that pregnant women who swim just a few days a week show reduced markers for risks during childbirth.

Conditions such as preterm labor and congenital defects are reduced.

The chemicals in swimming pools, like chlorine, also showed no adverse effects on the babies or on the mothers who carried them.

Swimming has become so popular that expectant mothers can check into a pool for aqua-natal sessions where they can enjoy a swim with other expecting mothers. Almost all healthy pregnant women benefit from swimming as long as they get an all-clear from their doctors first.

5. Improves confidence.

Swimming isn’t just a way to exercise and have fun. It’s an essential survival skill in many countries and improves a person’s odds of survival in adverse conditions.

The ability to swim in a swimming pool carries over to surviving in any body of water: a lake, a river, or the ocean.

Bringing children into the pool early ensures they build essential life skills that pay handsomely in the long run. Individuals that swim are more likely to be social, physically active, tolerant to stress, and healthy. These go a long way in building life skills that ultimately translates into confidence in every other aspect of life.

6. Improves mental health.

Coldwater swimming is especially good at activating endorphins.

Endorphins are what make you feel good during exercise. Since swimming is low-impact and allows you to go at your own pace, it’s ideal for anyone looking for relief and coping strategies.

Swimming can be a fantastic coping mechanism that can help a person deal with addictions, cravings, and mental episodes. Having a cold shower during a smoking or drinking craving is an age-old technique meant to relieve anxiety and build willpower. Swimming has scientifically proven to provide relief for people suffering from poor mental health.

Fun activities like aqua aerobics also add a social component to swimming and make swimming interesting. The constant stretching and rhythmic breathing are said to make swimming similar to a form of moving meditation.

Conclusion

Swimming has an incredible number of benefits and is uniquely safe and health-promoting, so it is advisable to use your Sodexo card that you use to place an order on Big Basket for getting a pool as well.

It’s a rare sport that can relax you, strengthen your mind and body without ever creating the need to break a sweat.