Mental Health Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is revered to be one of the best exercises to boost mental health and in managing symptoms that arise from mental illnesses. Although most of us know how beneficial swimming can be, the extent of these benefits is not common knowledge. Let’s dive into all the numerous benefits of swimming in this blog post!

Hormones

This is one of the most well-known benefits of swimming. Swimming, like any other activity, releases hormones such as endorphins and serotonin. These are also commonly called “the feel-good” hormones. Endorphins are our body’s natural response to pain and help in alleviating pain and tension in the body. Coupled with serotonin which is the “happy hormone”  helps relieve mental stress and brings a sense of positivity. When we are under a lot of stress, our bodies cannot produce and regulate these hormones properly. But adding an activity like swimming to your routine can make a significant impact on your mental well-being.

Breathing Retraining

Many eastern spiritualities talk about the importance of breath and meditation. And now science shows that how you breathe affects the blood flow to your brain. Your breath is also an indicator of if your fight or flight is triggered and often an initial indicator of oncoming panic attacks. But breath is also the key to managing panic and anxiety. Shallow fast breaths are signs of panic and fear; deeper long breaths help bring awareness and calm our bodies. Swimming is one of the few exercises that train your breath. And with consistent practice, we are able to retrain our breath which helps us manage symptoms of anxiety and stress. Swimming is dual beneficial in that way, it produced feel-good hormones in the moment and also teaches our bodies how to breathe well, the effects of which can last all day.

Increased quality of sleep

Sleep is the most important form of self-care. Research shows our bodies heal the best during sleep. But most people today struggle with sleep, from medical conditions, stress, or constant exposure to blue light through our devices. Those who struggle with mental health usually report struggles with sleep, either sleeping too much or too little. Exercise is recommended to help with the quality of sleep. While you can achieve this with different types of physical activity what makes swimming ideal is that being in water also provides a sense of calm and relaxes the body. So you get calming effect while also raising your heart rate. This unique combination is why swimming is one of the best activities to improve sleep.

Increased blood flow to the brain

Recent studies and research shows that being immersed in water increases blood flow to the brain. Now, why is this important to mental health? Regeneration of brain neurons is vital to maintaining brain health. And increasing blood flow to the brain is one of the fastest and best ways to achieve this. While regular exercise helps with this, being immersed in water shows a much higher increase in a shorter duration. Modern medicine shows that a higher regeneration rate of brain neurons helps with a variety of mental illnesses like depression and PTSD.

We hope this article was able to give you a more in-depth understanding of why swimming is beneficial to mental health and motivated you to incorporate swimming into your life this year! You can go swimming in community pools, lakes, and rivers(always make sure it is safe before jumping in!) or you can get your own personal in-ground pool installed in your backyard. If this is something that interests you please reach out to us for a free quote!