Some Benefits of Swimming

Drawing on more than 15 years of experience in engineering and data science, Muneeb Chawla is a senior data scientist with Eden Prairie, Minnesota-based Optum, a technology and data health care provider. Outside work, Muneeb Chawla is an avid biker and swimmer.

Besides working out the whole body, swimming affords multiple benefits. Most types of exercise fall into one of the two categories: highly intensive and strenuous on the joints or less intensive and gentle on the joints. Swimming, however, appears to unite the advantages of both. While it can be intensive enough, it spares the joints.

As reported by the American Council, the natural buoyancy of water holds the body up, thus reducing the moving body weight by 90 percent, which, in turn, also lowers the impact on the bones, joints, and muscles and minimizes potential injuries. By comparison, with running, people can experience short impacts of five to ten times their body weight on their hips, knees, and ankles.

Generally, all forms of exercise can aid in reducing stress, as they decrease the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline and produce endorphins, the body’s natural mood lifters. Multiple studies have demonstrated the calming effects of swimming too.

In 2012, Speedo commissioned an international study, which showed that over 74 percent of the participants felt less stressed after swimming, and 70 percent experienced a mental refreshment. Another study published in 2015 in the International Journal of Physical Education, Sports, and Health encompassed 101 people at a YMCA in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Nearly half of them stated they were stressed out and felt mildly depressed. After they swam, only eight reported continuing to feel the same.

A 2017 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine explored the relationship between specific physical activities and long-term health effects. It indicated that swimming regularly significantly lowers the possibility of dying from cardiovascular disease (over 40 percent) or any cause (almost 30 percent).

from WordPress https://ift.tt/AbTnmfv
via IFTTT