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Science-backed insights into health, wellness and wisdom, to help you make tomorrow a little better than today.

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Sink Your Stress at the Pool

5 min readFeb 1, 2024

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Photo credit to Ana Fradkin

Ask swimmers why they swim and you’ll probably hear as much about mental health benefits as the physical ones. It’s relaxing and meditative, and a good swim washes the stress of the day away, they say.

Is it swimming? Or the water? Is it just the endorphin boost you can get from any exercise? What about the nearly 50% of the US adult population who do not consider themselves strong swimmers, according to the American Red Cross? Can they also get mood-boosting powers at the pool?

Indeed, science offers deep insights into the value of exercising in water — or even just being around the water. It turns out you don’t have to swim endless laps, or any laps, to reap the mental health rewards from working out at a pool.

Improved moods, decreased depression, and reduced anxiety were all positive findings in a comprehensive review of research on aquatic exercise and brain health. Multiple forms of aquatic exercise including water walking, group aquatic classes, swimming lessons, kicking with a board, lap, and competitive swimming have all been shown to be good for mental well being.

If it’s not just swimming, what makes working out in the water so suited for mental health?

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Wise & Well
Wise & Well

Published in Wise & Well

Science-backed insights into health, wellness and wisdom, to help you make tomorrow a little better than today.

Chris Arestides, RN MPH
Chris Arestides, RN MPH

Written by Chris Arestides, RN MPH

Telling stories, sharing observations, and research to help people live their best and healthiest life and to help professionals help people on this journey.