Why Swim?
Why Swim?
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. (TheGoodQuote)
Swimming is an amazing form of fitness for people of all ages. Learn how hitting the pool helps keep your children physically fit and boosts their mental health.
Mental Fitness
Swimming is not just beneficial for the body but also for the mind. The rhythmic nature of swimming and the sensation of being in water can have a calming effect, reducing stress and anxiety in children.
Plus, swimming, like most other forms of physical activity, can release endorphins, often referred to as "feel-good" hormones, which can elevate mood and promote a sense of well-being. Swimming also creates a boost in blood flow throughout the body, including the brain, which can improve mental clarity, memory, and stress levels.
Mastering new swimming skills and overcoming challenges in the water can significantly boost a child's self-esteem and confidence. As children progress from learning to float to mastering advanced strokes, they gain a sense of accomplishment and pride in their abilities.
Swimming provides opportunities for children to set goals, track their progress, and celebrate their achievements, nurturing a positive self-image that extends beyond the pool.
Manages Stress
Swimming is a great way to relieve stress and anxiety. It can also keep you distracted and help redirect troubling thoughts. You can escape from the world and be one with the water.
Boosts Your Mood
Swimming makes you happy! It’s proven that exercise releases endorphins, which improve your overall mood and happiness. Swimming is also a great way to build a social community, focus on goal-setting, and improve your confidence.
Depression and PTSD
Swimming 30 minutes per day at least 3 days a week can significantly reduce the effects of depression and PTSD. (CDC)
Physical Fitness
Low Impact - Total Body Workout
Swimming is a great total body workout! When you swim, you engage almost every major muscle group, including your arms, legs and core. Swimming increases your heart rate without putting excess stress on your joints. Hitting the pool regularly builds strength, tones muscle, enhances fitness, and increases your metabolism.
Cardiovascular Fitness
Swimming is the best form of low impact cardiovascular fitness! Cardiovascular exercise involves the heart, lungs, and circulatory system. Keeping your cardio fitness in check can help enhance wellbeing for a lifetime.
Lifelong Fitness
Swimming is a unique sport because it truly is suitable for all ages and fitness levels. Some types of exercise can be challenging or impossible to complete for people who are older or who have limited technical skill.
Swimming allows you to go at your own pace and is inviting for newcomers — the water doesn’t judge. It really is the only sport you can do from cradle to grave.
Burns Lots of Calories
Swimming can be one of the most challenging workouts (if you want it to be) and as a result, you can burn a massive amount of calories, which is ideal for weight loss. An elite swimmer can burn up to 1,000 calories per hour in the pool.
Improves Sleep
The more you swim, the better you will sleep! In trials of persons with insomnia, those who exercises regularly reported improved sleep.
Specifically, swimming is great because it engages your entire body, encouraging a good sleep pattern to recover all your muscles.
Health Benefits
Helps with Asthma
Swimming can help increase Trusted Source lung capacity and improve breathing control. Holding your breath and rhythmic breathing exercises while swimming increases lung capacity and helps asthmatic people have more control over their breathing.
Helps with Autism
According to the Autism Spectrum Disorder Foundation (ASDF), swimming can help children on the autism spectrum improve speech, coordination, social skills, self-esteem, and cognitive processing.
Great for People With Injuries or Disabilities
Swimming is excellent for people with disabilities because the water creates resistance which helps build and strengthen muscles, and buoyancy reduces body weight by 80%, thus enabling movement that would have otherwise been difficult for people with disabilities.
Doctors recommend swimming for people recovering from injuries because it is a low-intensity exercise that won’t strain or sprain the affected muscle or ligaments. Swimming also helps strengthen muscles and ligaments, which is excellent for rehabilitation.
Wrap Up
No matter how fast you go, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch!
Swimming is more than a sport and a form of exercise - it’s a way of life. Swimming is an excellent lifetime activity for health and well being. Athletes in USA Swimming programs learn about perseverance, determination, goal setting, achievement, dedication, and commitment. Swimmers learn time management skills, self-discipline, courage, and self-control. They learn how to win and strive for excellence. Swimmers take these skills with them into school, work, and life. They become good neighbors, friends, employees, and community members. They build character through the pursuit of excellence in competitive swimming.
Victory is committed to the mental fitness and health of all our swimmers. We support positive feedback and encouragement not negativity, setting intentions rather than expectations, and acknowledge every set back as a learning experience.
In summary, swimming is all around awesome! From the physical benefits to the mental improvements, swimming is an amazing way to enhance the life of your children.
GO THUNDERBOLTS
