Physical inactivity and obesity has become a baby boomers nowadays. Both of those things cause several serious problem to human and rise the chance of mortality in early age. In order to stay healthy people should take regular exercise and healthy meal. Exercise can be done with many ways including sport. Swimming is one kind of sport which considered as perfect sport since long ago and it gives lots of fantastic benefits to the body. Swimming skill has been known by human since prehistoric era and the Greek people has built a swimming pool and practicing swimming in ancient times even they didn’t include swimming on Olympic games that time.
Why swimming?
There are a lot of sports that can be done in order to keep physical activity but there are reasons why swimming is better than other types of exercise. Below are some reasons why swimming is better than other types of sport.
Buoyancy is the ability of something or person to float in the water. Naturally people will float in the water and this made swimming is the safest mode of sport. It can be practiced even by people with injury in joint or in vertebrae. People with backbone or joints injury can perform any land sport but they still can do swimming since it doesn’t need joints impact.
Swimming is types of sport which can make you relax and cool down. Unlike the air, water temperature can be controlled and it is good for people who suffer from heat stress. Doing water sport never make you feel hot or feel too tired just like when you do any gym, walking, running or other types of sport.
Water is resistance and different with air. Even people float in water they still need to move through water. This made swimming is a perfect combination of aerobic and anaerobic sport. Think that swimming is more like a weight lifting sport combine with running at same time without any stress to your body. Isn’t it a great thing?
Swimming is save almost for everyone by following rule and keep the safety. It can be practised by children, elderly. Injured people and even pregnant women.
Not only fun, swimming offer you many benefits that has been proven by scientific researches. Here are the top benefits of swimming :
1. Improve cardiovascular endurance
Cardiovascular disease is number one killer in world especially in United States. It is mostly caused by lack of physical activity and poor diet. Any kind of cardiovascular sport can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and enhance the strength of heart and blood vessel. Swimming is best choice of cardiovascular sport that can be done by almost all people even those with obesity and disability.
2. Prevent heart disease
Heart disease is linked to the cardiovascular endurance. By performing swimming someone can reduce the risk of heart disease by 51% compared to them who lack of physical activity.
3. Increase muscular strength
Swimming can exactly build muscle fitness and strength since it has ability to promote muscle exertion ability. The muscle strength will be increased along with the speed of swimming. So if you want to have a strong muscle like body builder but lazy to go gym you can just simply swim for hours.
4. Promotes muscle flexibility
Swimming just like other water exercise not only can improve muscle strenght but also the flexibility of muscle swimming can enhance good stretching habits of muscle and resulting in flexibility.
5. Improve stamina
Swimming can significantly improve body stamina since it improve the muscle and cardiovascular endurance. A regular swimmer has better endurance and not that easy to get tired.
6. Increase metabolism rate
Just like other type of sport, swimming is linked to metabolic process which happen in the body. Metabolism is body mechanism to produce energy. During swimming, someone will need energy and it increase the rate of metabolism to provide energy to the body. This really help to people who has metabolism disorder and lack of stamina.
7. Help in weight lost
Wanna have slimmer waist and tone body? Swimming is great choice since it can burn your fat cell and increase metabolism of your body. Swimming for some hours can burn more calories and it also increase body ability to burn fat to produce energy. For every 10 minutes of swimming you burn amounts of calories based on swimming style like Breast stroke will burn 60 calories; backstroke torches burn 80 calories, freestyle lights up 100 calories and butterfly stroke can burn 150 calories
8. Lower the risk of diabetes
Health benefits of swimming may be your best solution for diabetes. Swimming is cardiovascular sport that also can increase insulin sensitivity especially in diabetes patient. Diabetes is common metabolic disorder which the body cant control the sugar level and usually caused by decreasing level of insulin or insulin resistance, swimming has been proven can increase insulin ability in detecting sugar and it makes you away from diabetes especially type 2.
9. Maintain healthy brain
Physical activity including swimming can promotes good brain function. Research has proven that swimming can actually make better brain function through a process called as hippocampal neurogenesis. Hippocampal neurogenesis is process which happen in brain where the brain replace the cells and form new cells which is lost because of stress.
10. Alleviate stress and depression
During swimming brain release endhorphin which is known as stress reliever. Swimming in cold or warm water also can make you feel rilex and alleviate your depression.
11. Prevent Alzheimer
Alzheimer is common mental disorder that happen in older age that caused by losing the cells and decreasing brain function. By regular exercise like swimming you can lower the risk of Alzheimer since swimming can promote new cells formation in the brain.
12. Improve lung function
According to study which published in Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology reported that swimmers has better tidal lung volume ( the amount or volume of air that moves in lung during breathing) compared to runners. When swimming body is pushed to use oxygen more efficient underwater.
13. Prevent from asthma symptoms
Aerobic sport like swimming provides opportunities to work out in moist air that can help to reduce the symptom of asthma especially which induced by exercise.
14. Lower blood pressure
Swimming can strengthen the heart and improve ability to pumping the blood which resulting in normal blood pressure. Swimming is a good option for hypertension patient.
15. Reduce cholesterol
Swimming can significantly burn fat and decrease the bad fat level or cholesterol. It has been proved by study that swimming also increase the level of HDL or high density lipoprotein or known as good fat. It is a good news that for every 1 percent increase in HDL cholesterol, the risk of dying from heart disease can drops by 3.5 percent.
16. Prevent atherosclerosis
By removing bad cholesterol away from the body, swimming also prevent the arteries from thickening which is caused by cholesterol accumulation.
17. Reduce the risk of injury
Unlike land sport swimming is totally safe even for people who has disability, injury or pregnant. It is different with land sport that can cause muscle stiffness, injury and stress after exercising.
18. Help to fight inflammation
Research reported that aerobic exercise including swimming can help to combat the body’s inflammatory response which make the body healthy and prevent from disease.
19. Prevent the symptoms of arthritis
Arthritis is sign of autoimmune disease which usually show symptoms of joint pain. Swimming is the only sport who doesn’t need joint contact and it can significantly reduce the symptoms of joint pain.
20. Increase bone density
If you ever heard that swimmer has higher body and strong bones its true. Swimming can promotes bones cell formation and remain bones density. People who used to swim has lower risk of suffering osteoporosis especially women.
21. Improves sleep quality
If you having problem with sleeping or insomnia, try to do regular swimming exercise. It will help your nerve to be relax and increase endhorphin level that can get rid of stress which is usually cause insomnia.
22. Promotes longer life and delay aging
Study which conducted by researchers from University of South Carolina found that swimmer had a 50% lower death rate or mortality rather than runners, walkers or men who got no exercise.it is also discovered that regular swimmers are younger in biological or body function by 20 years based to a study from Indian university. So if you want to stay young and fit, start to swim right now
23. Increase ability in running
According to Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports study, swimmers gain improvement in running ability by 6 percent after 12 swimming session and controlled breathing technique. It is good news for you who wanna perform marathon running competition or perform another sport which needs ability to run such as football.
24. Prevent Cancer
Last but not least, swimming can prevent you from cancer. Exercise including swimming can reduce the level of estrogen in women that can cause breast cancer and other factors which can increase the risk of cancer. According to study, person who do regular exercise especially swimming has lower the risk by 30 – 40%.
Why people don’t swim ?
There are some reason why people can’t swim or don’t even want to start swimming, below are the reasons why people avoid swimming even it has lots of benefits to human body
Tips Swimming for Beginner
Those all benefits of swimming and don’t be hesitated to start your swimming session if you want to have healthier body.