Health Benefits of Swimming for Seniors
There are many benefits to swimming, but beyond the pleasure afforded by aquatic recreation, a dip in the pool also has many health benefits – especially for seniors. Check out these top 9 health reasons everyone 60+ should take a regular swim:
- Swimming reduces the risk of osteoporosis: Post-menopausal women are at serious risk for decreased bone density. Guess what? Swimming can actually improve bone mineral density (BMD).
- Swimming can be strength training: Combining swimming with weights, as with water aerobics, is one of the safest and best forms of strength training, which has been shown to help seniors maintain their weight, restore balance (and thus reduce falls), sleep better, and reduce the risks and symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, back pain, depression and other maladies.
- Swimming makes for a healthy heart: Swimming improves cardiovascular health and endurance, lowering blood pressure, improving circulation, and reducing the risk of heart and lung disease.
- Swimming boosts brain function: Neuroscientists and physiologists have found that exercise benefits mental acuity.
- Swimming is easy on the joints: For anyone who suffers from joint pain, low-impact exercise, like swimming, is an ideal form of exercise.
- Swimming tones muscles: Water is about twelve times denser than air, so while swimming is a low-impact workout, it’s still an excellent form of exercise: swimming provides plenty of joint-friendly resistance to strengthen senior muscles – and carries a very low risk of injury, to boot.
- Swimming reduces stress: Swimming is a great way to release tension and stress.
- Swimming increases flexibility: If you think flexibility is for the young, think again. Swimming aids flexibility in the hips, neck, arms and legs, thus improving posture, reducing soreness, and helping alleviate back pain.
- Swimming improves quality of life: So simple, but true: studies show that swimming and water exercise actually boosts quality of life.
Source
http://www.backyardocean.com/Swimming-Benefits-Safety-Seniors-a/269.htm
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