Why is swimming so suitable for older people?
The Dutch are getting older. Those who retire in the coming years will statistically have a remaining life expectancy of around 20 years. Good physical and mental health is essential to enjoy your new phase of life. Swimming is also ideally suited for seniors.
Exercise is a basic human need, but unfortunately, most adults do not exercise enough. The sooner you swim against the current by exercising and exercising more, the more likely you are to be as healthy as a horse long after age 65.
As you get older, some sports are less and less easy to practice. In this article, we'll look at the main reasons why swimming is a perfect choice, especially for seniors.
Elderly people and exercise
According to the Sports & Exercise Knowledge Center adults should exercise moderately intensively for at least 2.5 hours a week — e.g. brisk walking, cycling, swimming — and do bone and muscle strengthening exercises at least twice a week. Sufficient moderate-intensity activity has many positive effects on physical and mental health.
In 2021, the 65+ age group complied with 42% to this Directive. That is (almost) a doubling compared to 20 years ago. Older people are therefore increasingly aware of the importance of exercise for their health.
Learning young is done old: Those who find a sport on time, that they enjoy and can practice safely even in old age, will most likely stay focused even after retirement.
Why swim?
Swimming is extremely popular among people over 65. 1 in 5 of them say they go swimming (at least) once a week, around 30% would want to swim more often than they do now. What makes swimming so attractive and so healthy for older people in particular?
1. You can exercise injury-free
Swimming's injury risk is extremely low; of the swim-related injuries reported in 2020, most occurred outside the pool (bumps or slips).
Unlike other popular sports such as fitness and cycling, you become bones and joints relieves (=”low-impact sports“) while swimming, because the water carries your body.
By the way, this also makes swimming extremely suitable as rehabilitation sports. Your whole body, all major muscle groups are trained, your bones and joints are protected.
This combination is quite unique.
2. You feel more comfortable in a swimming pool when you are over 65
The average gym focuses mainly on younger people between the ages of 20 and 40. The type and intensity of the classes, the music, the whole atmosphere depends on the preferences of this target group.
Among all those young people who want to perfect their bodies, many elderly people feel uncomfortable.
The audience in public swimming pools is clearly more heterogeneous. All ages do swimming (although after the swimming diplomas) and all sporting levels. Everyone swims at their own pace, in their own way.
So far, a swimming pool is already an upgrade compared to a gym, but you can go a step further. If you have your own pool at home, you don't even have to take accessibility or opening hours into account. Hygiene is also in your own hands.
One plunge pool fits into many private gardens. There is often more possible than you think. Start your day with a swim — great!
3. Tailored training for your whole body
When swimming, you use all major muscle groups to make progress against water resistance. At the same time, bones and joints are relieved and, as seen, the risk of injury is very low.
When you swim, do you keep matters in your own hands. You swim so hard, for so long, and in the way you like. You can relax while swimming, or you can opt for a faster pace to create a variable cardio workout.
By choosing a certain swimming stroke, you can train some muscle groups a little more or, on the contrary, relieve parts of the body more. For example, the backstroke is very relieving for your back, but at the same time, you train muscles that can support your back.
Your respiratory muscles also have to fight against the resistance of the water. As a result, swimming will improve you in the long run. lung function or helps maintain them. In addition, swimming improves — especially in cold (er) water — you immune system.
4. Swimming helps against sarcopenia
The medical term sarcopenia means age-related loss of muscle mass and muscle function. Between the ages of 20 and 30, muscle mass accounts for an average of around 50% of your body weight. After that, the percentage slowly falls; it is average among people over 70 only 25%.
Your muscles absorb around 80% of the glucose in your blood. Muscle mass is therefore extremely important to regulate your blood sugar level.
By exercising enough, you can prevent sarcopenia. Moderate to intense exercise builds muscle mass, even later in life. But the earlier you start, the better the prognosis.
Swimming is a low-impact option for training all major muscle groups to build muscle mass.
5. Swimming counteracts fear of falling
Many elderly people are moving less and less because they are afraid of bone injuries due to falls, resulting in a long recovery period. But it is precisely by exercising less that your coordination, muscle mass and muscle strength - as well as your self-confidence - deteriorate (faster).
The risk of falling or breaking something while swimming is minimal.
Each swim stroke consists of a number of movement patterns that you repeat continuously. This trains the motor activity and coordination of your arms, legs and torso.
The extent to which swimming improves your balance is still not entirely clear, but good coordination and proprioception can often largely compensate for balance problems.
6. A treat for your joints
People over 55 often have to deal with joint disorders such as rheumatism and arthrosis. When your joints hurt, you don't want to strain them, but avoiding movement leads to other problems such as stiffness and overall inactivity. Moderate stress on the joints actually reduces joint pain.
While swimming, the water carries your body and your joints are relieved, so move more easily becomes. You move almost all joints while swimming and when joints are moving, the production of new cartilage stimulated.
In this way, you can stop or at least slow down wear and tear.
Hot water increases the relaxation effect, cold water swimming works (in the long term), among other things, anti-inflammatory.
Because your body is not affected by gravity, swimming is not the best choice to strengthen your bone mass. However, it is a safe addition to stay (very) active if you already suffer from osteoporosis. And even though the influence on bone density is not as great as, for example, strength exercises or walking, swimmers' bone density is clearly better than that of non-athletes.
7. Metabolism
Swimming is not only a low-impact way to build muscle mass at your own pace, swimming also burns quite a few calories.
Even though you swim in reasonably warm water, your body has to “work” extra to maintain its temperature. An hour of quiet swimming therefore burns up to 500 kcal. If you train harder, this can amount to around 930 kcal/h.
This is considerably more than with comparable dry land efforts (e.g. cycling, walking, fitness).
People over 55 mainly store fat around the belly. This type of fat is often associated with a decrease in “good” HDL cholesterol and an increase in “bad” LDL cholesterol.
After around 20 minutes of exercise, your body starts burning fat. Even though you have no control over which fat reserves are used; swimming regularly for half an hour (or longer) is an extremely safe way to to combat increased fat storage and to shape your figure.
8. Cardiovascular System
While swimming, you determine the level of effort. This makes swimming a suitable cardio sport for almost most seniors with existing cardiovascular problems.
Regular exercise reduces high blood pressure in the long run, and thanks to the variability of exercise, swimming is obvious here.
Of course, swimming also works preventive to prevent such problems.
Because of the horizontal position in the water, your heart doesn't have to pump as hard. When your body is more or less surrounded by water, your parasympathetic nervous system is stimulated, which has positive effects on, among other things, your heart rate (the so-called”diving effect“).
Swimming — especially in cold (er) water — promotes blood flow of your whole body. Swimming also has a positive influence on the elasticity of your heart vessels and combats the risk factor LDL cholesterol.
9. A boost for your brain
relaxation
Swimming makes muscles and joints less stiff, so you can mentally relaxes. You're also offline for a while — no phone, no emails, no social media — and at least your brain enjoys it.
Swimming also stimulates the production of neurotransmitters such as endorphins, serotonin and dopamine. These so-called happiness hormones work stress-reducing and you improve concentration, impulse control, confidence and tuning.
When you step out of the pool again, you will experience less stress and more energy than before swimming.
The quality of sleep also improves with (regular) swimming. The causes are not entirely clear yet; it could be related to the combination of physical exercise and the beneficial effects on, among other things, your heart rate and blood pressure.
Swimmers fall on average fall asleep faster and experience a deeper sleep. Whoever swims like a fish during the day, sleeps like an otter at night!
Memory
The better blood flow keep going for a while after swimming, so that your brain is also better supplied with oxygen, among other things.
Swimming stimulates the production of white matter in your brain. As a result, the brain cells are better connected to each other.
More connections between your brain cells ensure, among other things, that you
- takes more initiative
- thinks more flexibly
- increases your problem solving ability
- are more motivated
In addition, you are improving short- and long-term memory.
10. Live longer, stay independent longer
Almost everyone can keep moving easily and safely by swimming and thus the aging processes in his body decelerate or even partially undo it.
So it's not surprising that swimmers who also pay attention to their diet, according to a British study. live about two years longer.
Having your own home and being able to spend your time completely independently is more or less natural for young people. Seniors also cherish their autonomy, but in order to keep and enjoy them, they must meet some “requirements”, e.g.:
- no or little suffering from chronic illness
- good heart and lung function
- maintaining muscle mass and function
- good coordination and proprioception
- good memory & concentration
- sufficient exercise and sufficient relaxation
- self-confidence/confidence in self-reliance
The beneficial effects of swimming seamlessly match this profile.
Regular swimming is no guarantee of living independently at 100, but it is an ideal way to stay physically and mentally fit at any age.
How many times a week do you swim when you are over 65?
The Exercise Directive (issued by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport) recommends at least once a week for adults:
- 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity exercise
- two times muscle and bone strengthening activities
- (for seniors) targeted balance exercises once.
It is best to spread those 2.5 hours over the whole week; the total length per week and the level of effort are important — a (slightly) accelerated heart rate and breathing signal that you are “moderately intensive”.
Because you can adapt swimming very flexibly to your sporting level and possible restrictions, it is ideally suited to exercise sufficiently moderately intensively.
Make swimming for one hour twice a week a regular habit and you've almost reached your weekly goal. Or greet each day with half an hour of swimming — in your own pool? - then you get your day off to a good start and you exceed the minimum of the Exercise Directive!
In any case, avoid sitting still for a long time and remember: Exercise is good, moving more is better.
Have you always dreamed of having your own swimming pool?
With your own pool, you invest in your health and quality of life. You can enjoy all the positive effects of swimming (and contact with water in general) at your leisure, and you are in control of “opening hours”, hygiene, etc.
The Intelligent Pools by Swimm are extremely compact and energy efficient. They fit in (almost) any garden and thanks to the countercurrent included as standard, you can swim just as freely as in open water despite the small water surface.
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