23+ Pros and Cons of Swimming (Explained)

Swimming can be practiced as a sport and as a form of exercise or recreation. It involves propelling one’s body across the water using a combination of the legs and arms.

Swimming is very popular as an exercise as it engages almost every part of the body and is often prescribed as therapy for the physically challenged.

Swimming is a skill that is often considered life-saving and is often taught to children in their early years. Swimming has also been practiced as a sport for centuries. It can be an individual sport or a team sport.

Over the years, competitive swimming has featured in numerous sports competitions.

There are different strokes that a person can use to swim, for example, butterfly stroke, breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle, etc. The first swimming competition was held in the early 1930s.

Historians have also found evidence of swimming being practiced as recreation in prehistoric times, as early as the Stone Age, around 10,000 years ago.

There are references to recreational swimming in numerous mythical texts such as the Iliad, the Bible, the Quran, Beowulf, the Odyssey, and more.

Table of Contents

Swimming’s Benefits And Drawbacks

Benefits of Swimming	Drawbacks of Swimming
Swimming has numerous health benefits.	It might increase the risk of injuries.
It works on the entire body.	It sometimes causes skin allergies.
It helps improve the insides of the body.	It might cause a fungal infection.
It is a great form of exercise for kids.	Support of other equipment is required.
It helps with numerous health conditions.	Dependency on swimming facilities.
It is an excellent form of exercise for kids.	Drowning Danger.
Swimming is considered beneficial during Pregnancy.	Possibility of injury.
It might be helpful for patients suffering from MS.	Chemical exposure.
It has a good effect on mental health.	Maladies caused by water.
It burns calories.	Only partially accessible.
It aids in sound sleep.	Seasonal constraints.
It helps to combat asthma.	Pressure from rivalry.
It is an inexpensive form of recreation.	Expense.

✔️ Advantages Of Swimming 🏊

Swimming has numerous health benefits.

Swimming is considered one of the healthiest forms of exercise and can be continued by most people throughout their lifetime. Though it falls under low-impact workouts, it has several positive effects on one’s health and strength.

For instance, it helps build muscle endurance, improves cardiovascular fitness, strengthens muscles, etc.

Swimming also directly correlates with reducing the chances of dementia in elders. It also helps relieve muscle tension and joint pain. Overall, this sport or recreational activity is beneficial for health purposes and is advisable to people of all age groups.

💪 It works on the entire body.

If you want to work your whole body, the best workout is 150 minutes of swimming with moderate vigor of 75 minutes of high-intensity swimming.

While working out in the gym, you need to focus on specific areas on separate days. However, swimming works your entire body, from head to toe, all at once.

One hour of swimming is said to burn almost as many calories as one hour of moderate running without impacting the joints.

It has also proved to increase a person’s heart rate without causing any stress to the body. It tones the muscle, builds endurance, and is one of the best exercises to increase stamina and strength.

Each of the different strokes one follows while swimming, like breaststroke, backstroke, sidestroke, freestyle, and butterfly, impacts the targeted muscle group differently.

The resistance water provides also helps work the body; irrespective of the swimming style, the entire body and the maximum number of muscle groups are exercised.

It helps improve the insides of the body.

Swimming does not only help work your muscles alone, but it also helps improve your cardiovascular system’s functioning. Research has shown that swimming directly impacts the heart and lungs and strengthens them.

A theory says that swimming even reduces the risk of death, though research on this topic is still being processed.

It says that in comparison with non-swimmers, swimmers have only half the risk of death. Some researches also show that active swimmers have a lowers chance of suffering from high blood pressure than non-swimmers. It also may help control blood sugar levels.

🩺 It helps with numerous health conditions.

Unlike high-intensity gym exercises, people with arthritis, disability, injuries, and other issues, can safely swim without jeopardizing their health or aggravating their condition.

It is even believed that swimming instead helps reduce pain or hasten the process of recovery from injuries.

For example, people suffering from osteoarthritis reportedly show positive results after swimming therapy; it is said to have relieved their muscle stiffness and reduced their joint pain.

Swimming tends to have all the health benefits of more high-impact land exercises like cycling and running but does not have any negative impacts of these exercises.

It helps to combat asthma.

Swimming in indoor pools is considered to be an excellent activity for patients who have asthma. The humidity level of the indoor pool acts as a plus. Practicing breathing exercises, such as holding your breath while swimming, is also beneficial.

It seems to help you increase the capacity of your lungs and enables you to control your breathing. Finding a pool where they treat and purify the water using natural substances such as sea salt rather than chlorine to aid the process is best.

🌬️ It might be helpful for patients suffering from MS

MS, or multiple sclerosis, is a pretty complicated health condition. There has been research suggesting that swimming can prove beneficial for MS too.

The water buoyancy is supposed to help support the limbs while assisting them with the resistance felt during swimming.

The study claims that regular swimming helps alleviate pain for the patients. They also showed considerable improvement from other conditions such as anxiety, depression, and fatigue.

🔥 It burns calories

Swimming helps to torch calories and reduce those stubborn fats. One hour of swimming is said to burn more calories than one hour of light jogging or exercising on the elliptical trainer.

Swimming burns about 423 calories in a person weighing 160 pounds in an hour and approximately 500 to 900 calories in a person weighing 200 pounds.

In contrast, one hour of jogging might burn only about 314 calories, and exercise on the elliptical trainer might burn only about 365 calories. Yoga burns as little as only 183 calories.

😴 It aids in sound sleep.

Swimming, like any other exercise, helps you sleep soundly at night. It has been proven that people with insomnia have seen a remarkable improvement in their sleep after they took up swimming.

Swimming is a sport that can be safely practiced by the older population as well. Thus, it is one of the best exercises to help you sleep better at night.

🧠 It has a good effect on mental health.

Swimming helps improve one’s memory. It has been proven to help people suffering from dementia. Not only that, but swimming also tends to improve a person’s overall mood and helps those battling depression.

It is an excellent form of stress-busting

While researches are still underway, it is said that swimming has the potential to reduce stress in people. It is a quick hack to relieve stress and feel good again.

🏊‍♀️ Swimming is considered beneficial during Pregnancy 🤰.

Swimming is considered safe during pregnancy, unlike most other forms of high-impact exercises. Studies also show that the fetus, pregnancy the mother benefits from swimming.

It is proven to improve brain development in unborn babies and even protect them from certain neurological diseases. Swimming can be done in all three trimesters of pregnancy.

It is an excellent form of exercise for pregnancy.

Kids should typically engage in 60 minutes of moderate to high-intensity exercise daily. Swimming can be a fun exercise for kids, and they might not feel this is a chore or a routine. Swimming classes can be structured or unstructured, which is immensely beneficial.

It is an inexpensive form of exercise.

Compared to other forms of exercise, like gymming, pilates, and Zumba, swimming is pretty inexpensive. There are many community pools, and there might also be pools in schools.

Some employees also get reimbursements for joining a form of fitness. All clubs also tend to have pools that make it easily accessible to people from all walks of life.

❌ Disadvantages Of Swimming 🏊

⚠️ It might increase the risk of injuries.

One downside of swimming is that it might cause or increase the chances of some particular injuries. The repetitive movements involved in swimming might strain the tendons or joints. Thus swimming is said to increase the chances of tendinitis, which can be pretty painful.

🦠 It might cause fungal infection.

Another disadvantage of swimming is that it increases the risks of Mycosis, a fungal skin infection. However, Mycosis isn’t only restricted to swimming alone.

One can suffer from this fungal infection even if one takes a shower directly after sweating it out in the gym. The most common type of Mycosis occurs in the feet and is nicknamed foot fungus.

It sometimes causes skin allergies.

Private swimming pools are sometimes disinfected with harsh chemicals like chlorine, which might lead to skin irritation and rashes. Chlorine tends to irritate the mucous membranes like eyes also. That is why you must always wear goggles while swimming in a pool.

swimming increase risk of allergies infections

Might have to discontinue in winter

Swimming in winter is not strictly advisable. During summers, it helps the body maintain its temperature and cool down; however, during winters, swimming might increase the chances of you catching a cold or might also result in pneumonia.

Heated swimming pools might be a solution, but even then, you should be careful about changing your swimwear quickly after getting up from the pool.

Support for other equipment required

You need protective gear while swimming, like a cap to cover your hair, goggles, and activewear swimsuits. Otherwise, the chemicals used to disinfect the pool might irritate your skin. Additionally, wearing sunscreen is advisable while swimming in an open pool during the day.

Thus, weightlifting can be just what your body needs if you are looking to build muscle mass and lose body fat. Next time you see those barbells and dumbbells in your gym, try lifting them, but obviously under the guidance of a qualified trainer.

It will help you unlock your true potential and improve your core strength in a way you never imagined possible.

Lifting will provide a new stimulus for your body and help it escape the rut that repetitive cardio can cause. So, instead of being intimated by those weights, try lifting them; take proper precautions to ensure you don’t injure yourself!