Even before the pandemic broke out, many of us already knew that exercising and eating right brings a lot of benefits to our well-being. Now that we’re in a pandemic and in danger of being infected with the Coronavirus, we should heed guidelines and laws that help prevent its spread.
One of the guidelines that we need to follow is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Having a healthy lifestyle boosts our immune system, which is critical in preventing infections. One way to boost our immune system is through proper exercise. What better way to exercise than swimming in your own swimming pool.
Forget expensive gym rates and clunky gym equipment. If you have a swimming pool, then you already have an excellent area to exercise. Coupled with a healthy diet, a healthy sleeping routine, swimming can be the perfect exercise. The elderly, adults, and even children can use swimming as a way to exercise. Let Riverside Pool Service Pros worry about your monthly pool cleaning service Riverside, CA– you just take care of your health. With that said, here are some more health benefits you can get from swimming.
Swimming Is Good Cardio
When it comes to building up cardio, swimming is a good alternative, if not the better choice compared to treadmills and traditional jogging. Moving in water offers more resistance, therefore, making your body work harder. As your body works harder, your heart also increases its workload to pump blood throughout your body.
Exercising your heart’s capability to pump blood effectively is a good way to increase cardio. Once you’ve built up cardio, you won’t get tired quickly when doing rigorous activities or playing high-impact sports like basketball, MMA, and football.
Burns Fat much Efficiently
A person who weighs in at 160 pounds can burn more than 400 calories during a moderate or low paced, 1-hour swimming session. If you increase the intensity a bit, you can burn more than 700 calories. If you compare that same person jogging, he or she would only burn less than 350 calories in an hour run. As you can see, swimming helps people burn more calories with less effort.
Helps Build up Bones
Swimming can be a good way to build up bones, especially for toddlers who are just starting to build up their bones. Although jogging can also be a good way to promote healthy bone growth, swimming is consistently showing promising results.
Helps Develop Muscle Memory
If you fight against water, you’ll undoubtedly have a rough time. “Be like water,” that’s what the legendary Bruce Lee said. With water, you need to go with its flow. Swimming puts you right in the middle of water and allows you to develop muscle memory. You might not notice it, but your body is developing small movements that it needs the next time you hit the water.
Muscle memory enables your muscles to adapt to certain conditions without having to rely on the brain. By not relying on the brain for such reactions, this results in your body having faster and more accurate movements.
Helps With Flexibility
Part of the reason swimming is called the perfect exercise requires a lot of complicated movements. For one, swimming needs a human body to twist, stretch, and pull their way through the water. Although it’s always a good idea to stretch before any exercise, the additional movements you do while in the water helps exercise your joints and muscles, making them more flexible.
Strengthens Your Lungs
Not only does swimming exercise your heart, but your lungs also get a workout. Swimming helps increase lung capacity. As you breathe deeply to get oxygen, larger muscles in your body work harder to get more oxygen as you enter the water. This constant motion works out your lungs so you can take in more oxygen.
Part of the reason why you get tired easily is the lack of oxygen. If you’re able to take in a lot of oxygen, you won’t get tired as much. Although lung capacity isn’t the only thing that helps increase your strength and cardio, it’s undoubtedly one of the essential factors in achieving that.
Good for Injuries
Pro athletes often use swimming pools for their rehab when they’re recovering from injuries. If you have a pool, you can also emulate how these athletes recover by doing easy exercises. Compared to doing traditional rehab, the buoyancy of the water helps support your aching joints and muscles.
Boosts Mood
A lot of people often consider swimming more of a leisure activity than exercise. Because of that fact, people get a noticeable boost in their moods. Swimming is a fun activity that most people enjoy. Even those who don’t know how to swim have a lot of fun in a pool.
It’s important to note that health doesn’t mean you need to focus on your body alone. A healthy person should include mental and psychological aspects to be considered healthy. If you’re feeling blue, why not go to a pool and relax?
Reduces Stress
Another reason why people are becoming unhealthy is because of too much stress. If left unchecked, stress can burn out an individual. When someone is burned out, they’re less motivated, unproductive, and could develop illnesses. Since swimming is a recreational activity, you can burn a lot of stress away from it. Just a few swimming sessions, and you’ll be sure to reduce stress healthily.
Helps With Sleep
If you’re having a hard time sleeping, exercise may be able to help you sleep. After a good session, your body produces melatonin, a hormone responsible for sleep. Since swimming is also an excellent form of exercise, getting a healthy amount can help improve your sleep.
Takeaway
During these trying times, we should take care of our bodies. Perhaps one of the best ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to swim in your swimming pool regularly. Unlike water from beaches, rivers, or lakes, pool water is cleaner and is free of harmful organisms. If you need help with checking your pool, then you can contact us for a look at our services. With the health benefits mentioned above, it’s safe to say that swimming can be an excellent addition to a healthy routine.
