If you didn’t learn to swim as a kid, it can be difficult to commit to swimming lessons as an adult. You might feel a little less self-conscious about taking the plunge when you realise that 14.2 million adults in the UK today can’t swim a length of a pool.
Apart from the fact that swimming is great fun (and so are the lessons) here are ten good reasons for you to give it a go.
1. Build your self-confidence
Instead of just accepting that you can’t swim, take matters into your own hands, and do something about it. Like all challenges in life, once you’ve done the work, you’ll enjoy a real sense of achievement. Better still, instead of shying away from the water when you’re out having fun with friends and family or away on hols, you’ll be able to join in with everyone else. Learning how to swim is a great way to feel better about yourself. Swimming builds confidence in the pool and this self-assurance can be seen in other aspects of your life too.
2. Meet new friends
Socialising might be the last reason to motivate you to book up swimming lessons but, for many, it can be one of the most rewarding consequences. You can do swimming lessons on your own, but it adds to the fun if you do it with others. That might lead to meeting up for a coffee after the class or doing some water aerobics sessions but, either way, leisure centres can be a really good place to meet new people.
3. A work-out for your whole body
When you consider all the health benefits, swimming is just what the doctor ordered. Swimming uses all the muscles in the body so you get a full workout every time you jump in the pool and it’s a great form of cardiovascular exercise too. In fact, it’s even better than you might imagine – due to the resistance, exercising in water makes your body work harder than most other forms of activity, so half an hour in the pool is worth 45 minutes of the same activity elsewhere. All this without putting too much strain on your overworked joints.
4. Lose weight
Once you’ve learnt how to swim, regular sessions in the pool are an excellent way to shed a few excess pounds. A gentle swim can burn over 200 calories in just half an hour, which is twice as many as you’d burn off if you went for a walk instead. Obviously, the more effort you put in, the more you’ll benefit. Swimming is a good way to raise the high heart rate with different strokes burning calories at different rates. One hour of lengths can burn as many as 715 calories.
5. Put yourself in a good mood
Swimming, like all exercise, releases endorphins in your brain. These are the hormones that make you feel happy. Time spent in the pool can also give you a welcome boost of energy for the rest of the day. Contrary to popular belief, it’s actually a lack of activity rather than the opposite that’s most likely to leave you feeling listless. Just half an hour of swimming, three times per week, can increase your metabolic rate and recharge your batteries.
6. Sharpen the brain
A healthy blood flow is important for keeping your brain healthy and can protect it from toxins. A study has found that just being in the water increases the blood flow to the brain. The participants in the study were placed in water up to their chest. Scientists then measured blood flow to the brain while they were in the water which proved to be more vigorous than when they were out of the pool. Regular exercise, such as swimming, also improves memory function and thinking skills.
7. Reduce anxiety and stress
Swimming lessons give you the perfect opportunity to leave the pressures of day-to-day life, along with your mobile phone, in the locker while you head off to the pool to enjoy yourself. Swimming is a great way to relax your body, soothe your mind and reduce the anxiety and stress that can build up when things aren’t running smoothly.
8. Sleep better
When we say swimming lessons can make you better in bed, we’re not talking about your love life but the quality of sleep you’ll enjoy. In a study of older adults suffering from insomnia, participants noticed an improvement in the way they felt and their sleeping patterns after taking part in regular aerobic exercise, including swimming. As nearly 50% of older people struggle with their sleep, these findings will be heartening news for many.
9. Stay young
There are all kinds of beauty treatments and mystery elixirs that claim to turn the clock back, but it transpires that a good old-fashioned dip in the pool could be more effective than any of them. It is widely agreed that regular swimming can indeed delay the effects of ageing by reducing blood pressure, increasing muscle mass, improving oxygen and blood flow to the brain, and increasing cardiovascular health.
10. Fun and exercise for years to come
Many sports and activities have a limited lifespan for most of us. Even something like jogging can get too much when the knees and ankles start to pack up. Easy on the joints, swimming is a lifelong activity that you can do all year round with heated indoor pools. And, of course, it’s easy to do with no special equipment needed. That all might seem like a long way away as you make the first step on that journey by booking up your lessons. But it’s good to know the benefits can be so lasting.
Booking lessons with Swimtime, the UK’s largest independent swim school, couldn’t be easier. There are plenty of courses for adult learners and you can find your local pool and all the other details here.
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