Stress has been named one of the deadliest killers in the modern world. The reason is not far from the numerous day to day activities that humans are caught up in. Many have devised various ways of fighting this silent killer while some others are still battling with the thought.
This week, we will be exploring the healthy benefits of swimming. Swimming can be not just fun, but also a form of exercise that helps in many ways including feeling and looking younger. Here are a few ways that swimming can help boost your health:
Lower risk of diabetes
When it comes to warding off diabetes, there are few prescriptions as powerful as aerobic exercise. In one study, men reduced their risk of diabetes by an average of 6 percent for every 500 calories a week they burned in aerobic exercise.
With just 30 minutes of breaststroke swimming three times per week, you could burn 900 calories — reducing your risk of contracting type 2 diabetes by over 10 percent. A study that focused on women also suggested the same benefits for the fairer sex: Vigorous exercise just once a week (like the kind derived from a robust swimming session)
And, if you already have type 1 diabetes, the aerobic benefits of swimming can be particularly be helpful, as this type of exercise can increase insulin sensitivity [source: University of Maryland].
According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetics should get 150 minutes per week, spread across at least three days per week, of moderate-intensity physical activity like swimming to aid glycemic control.
Work your body with less stress
Unlike other exercises, swimming offers the ability to work your body without harsh impact to your skeletal system. When the human body is submerged in water, it automatically becomes lighter. When immersed to the waist, your body bears just 50 percent of its weight; dunk yourself to the chest and that number reduces to around 25 to 35 percent; with water all the way to the neck, you only have to bear 10 percent of your own weight. The other 90 percent is handled by the pool. This means that the pool provides an ideal place to work stiff muscles and sore joints, especially if you’re overweight or suffer from arthritis.
Increased muscle tone and strength
Swimming is a great way to increase muscular strength and muscle tone — especially compared to several other aerobic exercises that is why there are no lazy competitive swimmers.
A swimmer, unlike joggers who only move their body, is propelling himself through water — a substance about twelve times as dense as air. That means that every kick and every arm stroke becomes a resistance exercise — and it’s well known that resistance exercises are the best way to build muscle tone and strength.
There’s yet another bonus of a watery workout: Swimming has also been shown to improve bone strength — especially in post-menopausal women.
Improves your flexibility
Swimming puts the body through a broad range of motion that helps joints and ligaments stay loose and flexible. The arms move in wide arcs, the hips are engaged as the legs scissor through the water, and the head and spine twist from side to side. Plus, with every stroke, as you reach forward, you’re lengthening the body, which not only makes it more efficient in the water, it also helps give you a good stretch from head to toe.
Weight control
Swimming is one of the biggest calorie burners around, and it’s great for keeping weight under control.
The exact number of calories you burn, of course, depends on your own physiology and the intensity with which you exercise, but as a general rule, for every 10 minutes of swimming: the breast stroke will burn 60 calories; the backstroke torches 80; the freestyle lights up 100; and the butterfly stroke incinerates an impressive 150.
Improved cholesterol
Swimming helps to balance the cholesterol in your body thanks to its aerobic power, which has been proven to raise HDL levels.
It has been medically proven that for every 1 percent increase in HDL cholesterol, the risk of dying from heart disease drops by 3.5 percent.
Onyeka Ibeanusi
