We all get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life – between work and workouts, family and friends, it’s good to find balance. Swimming strikes that balance between physical activity and active meditation, and even though your body may speed up your mind slows down as you immerse yourself in the movement. These are just some of the reasons why swimming is so damn good for you.

It’s good for the soul

Swimming is a great way to de-stress and completely absorb yourself in the activity — the motion and submersion, not to mention noise cancellation creating that temporary silence. The activity of swimming is known for its endorphin-releasing effects, producing a natural sense of wellbeing, and studies have even shown swimming to produce the same relaxation effects as yoga.

It’s an all-rounder

Swimming is a sport that gives you a full-body workout. It works muscles you didn’t even know you had, and it doesn’t put stress on the skeletal system, which is why it works for many different forms of fitness – whether you take it on as a competitive sport, a supplement to your existing workouts, or even a rehabilitation practice when you take it nice and slow.

Hello toned muscles

For those of you looking to tone up, swimming is a great way to do it. Because water is much denser than air – about 12 times more dense, it provides resistance as you move. This has asimilar effect as using light weights in the gym, and in the pool it’s all about the relative forces between your body and the water, which is what helps to tone those muscles while you move.

It builds stamina

Building stamina takes time, and with anything you need to stick at it and repeat, repeat repeat! The natural resistance created by the water means that your workout will depend completely on the force that you give it, because the forces are all relative, right? This means you control how hard you are working. The more accustomed you become, the more stamina you will build, and you’ll be able to keep going for longer each time – or with greater intensity.

It gets you breathing… hard

It’s so easy to forget to focus on our breathing during exercise — I mean it happens naturally anyway, so why should exercise be any different, right? Wrong. Breathing technique is essential to exercise because it will regulate and increase our lung capacity and the performance of our breathing when we need it most – maximising the efficiency of our breathing and the delivery of oxygen to all those cells hard at work.

So dip those feet in your pool, or head to the beach for some ocean swimming, and give this aquatic workout a go. Also, don’t forget to check out general tips to increase your healthy lifestyle.