Abstract:

Swimming is a versatile and lifelong skill that offers numerous health benefits, making it a valuable activity for teenagers. This paper reviews the scientific literature on swimming lessons for teenagers and explores the multifaceted health advantages associated with regular swimming. It delves into the physical, mental, and social benefits of swimming, highlighting the potential impact on adolescent health and well-being. Additionally, this paper addresses the importance of structured swimming lessons and the role of education in promoting water safety and competency among teenagers. By examining the existing research, this paper seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the benefits of swimming for adolescents, supporting the argument for the inclusion of swimming lessons as a fundamental component of teenage education.

Introduction:

Swimming is not merely a recreational pastime but a valuable skill that has been embraced for centuries, offering a wide range of health benefits. The adolescent years are a critical period for physical and mental development, and engaging in swimming lessons during this time can have a significant impact on overall well-being. This paper aims to explore the health advantages of swimming for teenagers, focusing on both the physical and mental dimensions.

Physical Health Benefits of Swimming Lessons:

2.1. Cardiovascular Health:

Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular exercise that strengthens the heart and improves circulation. Teenagers who participate in regular swimming lessons often exhibit lower resting heart rates, increased cardiac output, and improved overall cardiovascular health.

2.2. Muscular Strength and Endurance:

Swimming engages multiple muscle groups, promoting muscular strength and endurance. Adolescents who swim regularly develop strong and toned muscles throughout their bodies, contributing to enhanced physical fitness.

2.3. Flexibility and Range of Motion:

Swimming requires a wide range of motion, which helps improve flexibility and joint mobility. This can be especially beneficial for teenagers experiencing rapid growth and changes in their bodies.

2.4. Weight Management:

Swimming is an effective calorie-burning activity that can help teenagers maintain a healthy weight. It provides a full-body workout, making it an attractive option for those seeking weight management or weight loss.

2.5. Bone Health:

Contrary to some misconceptions, swimming can positively impact bone health. Weight-bearing exercises like treading water or vertical kicking can stimulate bone growth, enhancing bone density among teenagers.
Mental Health Benefits:

3.1. Stress Reduction:

Swimming has been shown to reduce stress levels and promote relaxation. The rhythmic movements and water’s soothing effects can alleviate anxiety and improve mood, particularly important for teenagers navigating academic and social pressures.

3.2. Improved Cognitive Function:

Regular physical activity, such as swimming, has been linked to enhanced cognitive function, including improved memory, attention span, and problem-solving skills. Teenagers engaged in swimming lessons may experience these cognitive benefits alongside their physical development.

3.3. Boosted Self-Esteem:

Achieving swimming milestones and improving swimming skills can boost teenagers’ self-esteem and self-confidence. The sense of accomplishment associated with conquering water challenges can positively impact their overall self-worth.

Social Benefits of Swimming Lessons:

4.1. Social Interaction:

Participating in swimming lessons provides teenagers with opportunities for social interaction and camaraderie. Group lessons, team sports like water polo or synchronized swimming, and simply spending time at the pool can foster meaningful friendships and social connections.

4.2. Teamwork and Cooperation:

Team-based water activities teach teenagers valuable lessons in teamwork, cooperation, and communication. Learning to work with others in a water environment can translate to enhanced social skills in other areas of life.

Water Safety and Competency:

Beyond the health benefits, swimming lessons for teenagers also play a crucial role in water safety. Drowning is a leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among adolescents, making water competency an essential life skill. Structured swimming lessons educate teenagers on water safety, rescue techniques, and self-survival skills.

Conclusion:

Swimming lessons for teenagers offer a plethora of health benefits, encompassing physical, mental, and social dimensions. Regular participation in swimming can contribute to improved cardiovascular health, muscular strength, flexibility, and weight management. It can also enhance mental well-being, reduce stress, boost self-esteem, and improve social skills. Furthermore, swimming lessons play a pivotal role in educating teenagers about water safety and competency, potentially saving lives. To promote the overall health and well-being of adolescents, it is imperative that swimming lessons become an integral part of their education and extracurricular activities. By doing so, society can invest in healthier, safer, and more confident teenagers who will carry these benefits into adulthood.

Kenny

Kenny is a baby Bottlenose dolphin, of the genus Tursiops, one of the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphin. He is very playful and friendly and loves to frequently leap above the water surface. Kenny plays with water toys, enjoys making bubble rings, and plays well with other dolphins or other animals.

The post Swimming Lessons for Teenagers and the Health Benefits of Swimming appeared first on One with the Water.

Abstract:

This paper explores the application of a growth mindset approach in teaching swimming lessons, aiming to enhance both skill acquisition and psychological resilience among learners. Drawing on the foundational principles of growth mindset theory, this research investigates the potential benefits of adopting a growth mindset-oriented instructional strategy within the context of swimming education. The paper reviews relevant literature on growth mindset, skill development, and swimming pedagogy, and presents a comprehensive framework for integrating growth mindset principles into swimming instruction. By fostering a growth mindset culture, swimming instructors can potentially facilitate improved learning outcomes, increased self-efficacy, and enhanced psychological well-being among learners.

1. Introduction:

Learning to swim is a vital life skill that contributes to physical health, safety, and recreation. Traditional approaches to swimming instruction often focus on skill mastery, occasionally leading to fixed mindset attitudes and diminished self-confidence in learners when faced with challenges. In contrast, a growth mindset approach emphasizes the belief that abilities and talents can be developed through effort, effective strategies, and resilience. This paper investigates the potential of integrating growth mindset principles into swimming lessons to enhance skill acquisition and foster psychological resilience among learners.

2. Growth Mindset Theory:

The concept of a growth mindset, introduced by Carol Dweck, posits that individuals who believe their abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work are more likely to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, and ultimately achieve higher levels of success. This theory has been widely applied in educational contexts, showing positive effects on academic achievement, motivation, and self-esteem. Transferring this concept to swimming education offers an innovative perspective on enhancing both technical skills and psychological attributes in learners.

3. Skill Acquisition in Swimming:

Swimming proficiency encompasses a range of physical and cognitive skills that are typically acquired through structured lessons and practice. Traditional teaching methods may inadvertently reinforce fixed mindset beliefs by placing excessive emphasis on immediate success and avoiding failure. In contrast, a growth mindset approach encourages learners to embrace mistakes as opportunities for improvement and view challenges as essential components of the learning process. By adopting this approach, swimming instructors can promote a more adaptive learning experience that supports long-term skill development.

4. Psychological Resilience and Self-Efficacy:

Growth mindset interventions have been linked to improved psychological resilience and self-efficacy across various domains. In the context of swimming, fostering a growth mindset can help learners develop greater confidence in their ability to overcome obstacles, leading to increased psychological resilience when encountering setbacks or difficulties. This, in turn, can contribute to a more positive emotional experience and reduced anxiety associated with the learning process.

5. Integrating Growth Mindset in Swimming Instruction:

To effectively integrate a growth mindset approach into swimming lessons, instructors should consider the following strategies:

• Promoting Effort and Process: Emphasizing the importance of effort, perseverance, and effective practice strategies over immediate results.
• Embracing Challenges: Encouraging learners to view challenges as opportunities for growth and skill refinement.
• Providing Constructive Feedback: Delivering feedback that focuses on effort, improvement, and specific strategies, rather than fixed traits.
• Cultivating a Positive Learning Environment: Creating an atmosphere where mistakes are normalized, and learners feel comfortable seeking assistance and learning from errors.

6. Empirical Support and Practical Implications:

Although limited research specifically addresses the application of growth mindset principles in swimming instruction, studies from educational and sports psychology provide a strong foundation for its potential effectiveness. By implementing a growth mindset-oriented teaching approach, swimming instructors may observe enhanced skill acquisition, increased self-efficacy, and improved psychological resilience among learners.

7. Conclusion:

Teaching swimming lessons with a growth mindset approach offers a novel and promising method to foster skill development and psychological resilience. By cultivating a learning environment that values effort, embraces challenges, and prioritizes growth over fixed outcomes, instructors can contribute to more confident, adaptable, and resilient swimmers. Further research is warranted to assess the long-term impact of a growth mindset approach on swimming education and its potential to revolutionize traditional teaching paradigms.

Kenny

Kenny is a baby Bottlenose dolphin, of the genus Tursiops, one of the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphin. He is very playful and friendly and loves to frequently leap above the water surface. Kenny plays with water toys, enjoys making bubble rings, and plays well with other dolphins or other animals.

The post Teaching Swimming Lessons with a Growth Mindset Approach: Enhancing Skill Acquisition and Psychological Resilience appeared first on One with the Water.

Does your child hate handwriting?

Does your child hate handwriting? Do they start whining or having a meltdown the second they have to start homework? If you notice any of these behaviors, they may be using these tactics to avoid one of the skills most important for success in a school setting. Handwriting is one of the most difficult tasks kids tackle. For starters, it requires a solid foundation in hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills, visual perceptual skills, and bilateral coordination… the list goes on!

From birth, our brains are wired to help us learn spoken languages, but our brains have to learn how to combine the skills we use for handwriting from scratch. So many skills and systems have to work together to allow us to write even a single word!  You have to simultaneously use your knowledge of language, your visual system, your vestibular system (the ability to tell where your limbs are in space), the ability to cross the midline, fine motor ability, and your sense of touch and pressure with every letter you write.

When kids have difficulty performing a task they can’t avoid, they can form bad habits to help them compensate for weaker areas of development. For example, they might have an immature pencil grip, using only four fingers. While these compensatory strategies may help them in the short term, they don’t allow for proper growth and development. Your child may also put their head down on the table while they write. This helps them keep their head still so they concentrate on their hand movements, but it can also lead to poor handwriting, inconsistent letter size, and incorrect letter placement on the page.

Think about how difficult it is to write in a straight line when your head is at a slant. Or maybe you notice them moving their head as they move their hand across the page. This is likely a sign that they’re having difficulty tracking movements with just their eyes. They need the extra input provided by moving their head and hand simultaneously to get a better sense of where their hand and, by extension their pencil, is on the page. This difficulty with tracking will reappear when they play sports, read, and even when watching movies or TV shows.

Getting a handle on handwriting!

The good news? At Theraplay LA, our OTs have training in both sensory integration and Handwriting Without Tears, an internationally recognized and award-winning program! Our expertise in sensory processing and motor development allows us to help your child address the sensory differences keeping them from writing while helping improve their handwriting abilities through multisensory approaches. We’re determined to help set your child up for success, academically and beyond.

Dr. Marielly is a Los Angeles native and Loyola Marymount University, graduate whose insatiable curiosity with the mind-body connection since childhood led her to the field of occupational therapy. She graduated from the top-ranked University of Southern California in 2011 with a Master’s Degree and completed a Doctorate with a teacher’s aid scholarship in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification, Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT), Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME), Handwriting without Tears, Integrated Learning Systems (ILS)., Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention, Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, Cranial Nerve Integration. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Getting A Handle on Handwriting appeared first on One with the Water.

Sensory Integration: Get Those Motor Skills Moving!

Have you noticed that your child struggles to keep up with other kids? Do they have trouble navigating a new playground? Did your Mama Gut ever make you feel like they had delays learning to crawl or walk? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, they might have underlying sensory issues. At first, it might not make sense that sensory differences can impact your child’s ability to learn new skills, but every part of our body is interconnected. Sensory information is the foundation on which we build motor skills. Without our sense of touch and balance, we would struggle to navigate the world. The feedback in our feet tells you whether the floor is even, whether the ground is sturdy, and how to balance on the floor. If these senses are amplified or silenced too much, it can lead to discomfort and poor feedback from our surroundings.

Our sense of touch is also deeply linked to our sense of balance and our ability to tell where our limbs are without looking at them. If we can’t get a clear idea of our surroundings and how we’re interacting with them, it’s difficult to learn how to crawl in them, let alone walk, run, or climb. Sensory issues can also make it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Occupational therapy acknowledges and embraces the connection between our senses and the rest of our body to ensure your child gets the most complete and effective care possible. We don’t want to put your child through years of therapy solely working on their motor symptoms when we could target the sensory causes behind those symptoms and help them improve within months!

If you’re looking for Los Angeles-based occupational therapy for sensory integration, then we can send you to the right place! At Theraplay LA we offer in-home, in-clinic, and telehealth sensory integration sessions. We know that watching your child struggle with everyday activities can be overwhelming, which is why we apply strategies specifically tailored to provide quick and lasting results. We’re here to support your child through every step towards sensory integration!

Dr. Marielly is a Los Angeles native and Loyola Marymount University, graduate whose insatiable curiosity with the mind-body connection since childhood led her to the field of occupational therapy. She graduated from the top-ranked University of Southern California in 2011 with a Master’s Degree and completed a Doctorate with a teacher’s aid scholarship in 2012. Her areas of expertise include Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification, Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT), Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME), Handwriting without Tears, Integrated Learning Systems (ILS)., Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention, Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, Cranial Nerve Integration. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Sensory Integration: Part Two appeared first on One with the Water.

Her areas of expertise include

• Sensory processing and a “SIPT” certification
• Training in Neurodevelopmental Treatment (NDT)
• Cuevas Medek Exercise (CME)
• Handwriting without Tears
• Integrated Learning Systems (ILS).
• Advanced practice in swallowing assessment, evaluation, or intervention
• Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
• Cranial Nerve Integration

Dr. Marielly is joining us on the blog for the next few weeks to talk more about warning signs for parents and the whole body benefits of pediatric occupational therapy. Join us as we learn more about how we can continue to improve the mind-body connection of our children through pediatric occupational therapy.

Today we are discussing sensory integration and the behavioral benefit of this therapeutic intervention.

Sensory Integration: Behavioral Benefits

Does it seem like your child is constantly throwing tantrums? Do they unravel at the end of the day? Sensory dysregulation, whether from too much or too little input, can have direct and severe impacts on your child’s mood. It can also impact your child’s behavior, appearing in the form of meltdowns and poor impulse control. Think about how hard it is to concentrate when you’re itchy or how frustrating it can be when your foot falls asleep and you can’t walk across the room. Your child could be experiencing similar feelings 24/7.

Occupational therapy is designed to help regulate your child. Sometimes, in order to make progress, we focus on treating unlikely areas. Your first impulse might have been to visit a psychiatrist or psychologist. While they may be able to help treat the behavioral symptoms your child is showing, they can’t treat the root cause of your child’s emotional outbursts. They may gain skills used to deal with their increased stress, but they’ll still find themselves coping with daily discomfort. One of the great things about sensory integration is that you’ll see behavioral changes simply by working with a therapist to get your child more in tune with their sensory profile. Once they feel more comfortable in their own skin, you’ll be amazed at how quickly that frustration melts away and their emotions begin to stabilize!

Theraplay LA

If you’re looking for Los Angeles-based occupational therapy for sensory integration, then you’re in luck. Dr. Marielly and her team started Theraplay LA as a pediatric OT practice dedicated to providing intentional and precise levels of care to those in Los Angeles and beyond. Theraplay LA  offers in-home, in-clinic, and telehealth sensory integration sessions. They know that watching your child struggle can be heartbreaking, which is why they apply strategies specifically tailored to provide quick and lasting results. They will support your child, emotionally and otherwise, through every stage of sensory integration!

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Sensory Integration: Behavorial Benefits appeared first on One with the Water.

I grew up the majority of my life thinking I was just stupid. I had an immense amount of trouble reading, writing, and doing math for most of my elementary school years. I would struggle in the classroom to the point where I could not keep up with the rest of the class. I remember overhearing my teachers telling my mom that I would not be able to go to college or get a respectable job in the future. I would cry silently in the back seat of the car on the way home from school due to sheer frustration and discouragement. I took labels on as objective-reality truths and struggled all through my early years of college with feelings of not being good or worthy enough.

The swimming pool was the place I would go to during this time of my life where I felt like a normal human being. In fact, not only did I feel normal, I shined and glimmered in the water. I was good at swimming, and it provided me with a deep sense of reassurance that I could make something out of my life. The moment I put on my swimsuit, cap, and googles, I was an invincible superwoman who could fly through the depths of the cold and promising trenches.

You are not a label.

Labels are what you call yourself in your head. They are tags that you attach to yourself to describe the person that you think you are. The uniqueness and complexity of the individual can get lost in the application of a label. I am not stupid; dyslexia is just something I have. I am not dyslexic; dyslexia is just something I have. I am not dyslexic; I am Danielle.

Swimming through Dyslexia.

It is now known that most children with dyslexia have a reasonable level of intelligence and can succeed in school with tutoring, extra time, or extra help. I found this out much later in my life as I graduated from both college and graduate school with the highest academic honors. While I did not discover dyslexia was something I had until my college years, I am thankful for that now because it opened me up to the endless possibilities of who I am. I am so appreciative of swimming because it provided me both space and encouragement to keep going, and it opened the doors to so much self-discovery and improved self-worth. As I continue to find myself One with the Water, I know I can overcome anything by merely opening myself up to the endless possibilities this life has to offer.

-Danielle Wahl, Marathon Swimmer.

Register for our exclusive open water swim clinic this May, taught by Danielle, and plus we’d love you to click here to support Danielle’s Manhattan Swim and donate to One With the Water. CLICK HERE>

Danielle has 18 years of competitive open water swimming experience. Danielle competed at the national level in high school swimming in races such as the FINA Open Water National Championships. She also swam in college competing at the NCAAs and was a three-time All American athlete. Danielle has successfully crossed the English Channel two times (2013, 2014). Her English Channel swim in 2013 was the fastest swim of the season with a time of 9 hours and 49 minutes. In addition, Danielle has successfully crossed Catalina Channel (2014). This coming September, Danielle plans to swim Manhattan, which will complete her “Triple Crown.” On top of her swimming experience, Danielle has her Master’s degree in Sport and Performance Psychology and is extensively trained on the mental side of sport, performance and marathon swimming.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Swimming Through Dyslexia appeared first on One with the Water.

“Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities.” 

Children with dyslexia are often bright, creative individuals who are otherwise cognitively successful. How can sports and swimming, in particular, assist someone in managing dyslexia and flourishing at life? 

First of all, as we’ve discussed at length here, regular physical activity improves concentration, focus, and mood, as well as relieving stress. Swimming, in particular, also does the following:

• Improves flexibility within the joints and muscles.
• Strengthens the cardiovascular system.
• Strengthens the major muscle groups in the upper and lower body.
• Helps improve lung capacity, leading to higher oxygen intake, which allows for increased focus in the classroom.
• Additionally, swimming acts as a calming, meditative experience due to the rhythmic, repetitive motion in a quiet, sensory-friendly environment. This aspect of swimming is particularly crucial for students with dyslexia to offset the often stressful day to day work of managing dyslexia in the classroom.

Managing Dyslexia Through Sport

Beyond the health benefits, experts agree that playing sports can normalize a dyslexic child’s experience, allowing them to be peers on the playing field (or in the pool). Athletes learn the value of teamwork, increase self-esteem, establish an identity not rooted in failure and struggle, and learn valuable lessons like the positive results of hard work, plus organizational and planning skills that can be transferred back into the classroom. As one father described it, achieving results in the pool gave his son John the belief that real effort could produce results outside the pool as well. Not only that, the pool improved his overall fitness and was something he loved to do.

And according to this guide for teaching dyslexic students in sports, the strengths of students with dyslexia do lend themselves to excelling in the physical arena. Advantages that include (but are not limited to 

• Multi-sensory learning styles that are particularly suited to sporting activities; 
• Multi-dimensional thinking and perception
• An acute awareness of the environment 
• Originality and creativity in their approach to problem-solving 
• Determination to succeed 
• Endurance and ability to practice the same skill over and over again, even if there is little apparent progress

“Athletics puts them in a position in which they are equal to their peers—they help each other, they cooperate, they pull together, and they learn to accept both winning and losing with grace and maturity.”

If you or your child struggle with dyslexia, consider our premium swim lessons as a path to success both in and out of the water. Register today! 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Swimming and Dyslexia: Powerful Partners. appeared first on One with the Water.

What I want to highlight here is how much inner peace can be found starting with the pool. Swimming lays the groundwork for a happier life. Aside from the physical benefits of swimming, our whole body is supported by the embrace of the water.

“I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That’s where I belong.” – Michael Phelps

Inner Peace in the Pool

The aerobic nature of swimming, like other forms of aerobic exercise, increases the endorphins and other chemicals in our brain that decreases stress and anxiety levels. However, it’s not just the physiological response in our brain that adds to our sense of inner peace in the pool.

Dr. Nichols talks about the viscosity, and pressure unique to our experience of the water, and our ability to experience the water in multiple dimensions. We enter the quiet space of the water relatively weightless and primed to let the outside world drop away. Then we swim, engaging in whole body exercise that works the large, smooth muscle groups in the body in an alternating, rhythmic pattern. When accompanied by the deep, rhythmic breathing required in a regular stroking mechanism, we are often able to swim in a semi-meditative state.

“Being on, in, around, or near water can calm our overactive minds while it imbues our senses. It does this by tapping into ancient neural maps and their associated neurochemical reactions. It can help us access the state not coincidentally called by another watery word, “flow,” allowing us to access the default network/daydreaming parts of our brains while restoring our ability to focus and perform cognitive and creative tasks with greater ease.” – Dr. Nichols

Inner peace is an elusive idea, difficult to define, and fluid from person to person. However, the evidence is clear that there is a path to such peace through the pool.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Find Inner Peace in the Pool appeared first on One with the Water.

The health benefits of swimming are well documented; however, there are specific benefits for disabled veterans and those suffering from PTSD. Water buoyancy allows movement restricted individuals to move freely and helps build muscle in low muscle tone individuals. Additionally, self-regulation, speech, oral motor control, strength, and coordination are just a few areas that can improve with therapy in the water. According to Disabled Sports USA, swimming not only offers flexibility within the joints and muscles but strengthens the cardiovascular system as well as the major muscle groups in the upper and lower body. Moreover, because the heart works harder when the body is submerged, swimmers benefit from decreased swelling, reduced blood pressure and improved joint position. This, in turn, improves the swimmers’ proprioception, or body awareness.

Additionally, swimming boosts the blood flow to the brain. One 2014 study found that blood flow to the cerebral arteries increased between 9-14% depending on their location in the brain. The benefits of increased blood flow to the brain are improved mood, better concentration and focus, and overall increased cognitive function. For veterans suffering from combat wounds, reprogramming bodily awareness and creating positive physiological change in the brain can be a life-changing experience.

Social/Psychological Benefits of Swimming

Because PTSD is a stress-related disorder, engaging in activities that help reduce stress or provide an outlet for nervous energy can be very effective in helping people living with PTSD cope with their condition. Many medical studies have shown that aerobic activity like swimming can play a pivotal role in a post-traumatic stress disorder therapy program by helping those who suffer from PTSD battle depression and anxiety so they can achieve a healthy mind and body.

In fact, one study shows that swimming can potentially help reverse brain damage caused by stress and anxiety. Swimming promotes the process known as hippocampal neurogenesis. In laymen’s terms, hippocampal neurogenesis is the regrowth of new brain cells in areas of the brain that atrophy under prolonged periods of stress. Moderate aerobic exercise three times a week increases the size of the hippocampus region in the brain, improving cognition, and helping with activities like planning, scheduling, multitasking, and memory. For it to be useful though, the swimming session must be prolonged and sustained.

Additionally, the National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll and found a strong correlation between proper sleep and exercise, discovering that exercise does improve sleep, vital for health, productivity, and overall happier life. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, stress and anxiety may cause sleeping problems or make existing problems worse. (One of the more common symptoms of PTSD is difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless sleep.)

Extended aerobic swimming workouts release the natural compound endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals produced in your brain to combat those issues. Increased endorphin levels work to lower stress, increase pleasure, and reduce or manage pain. The release of endorphins do help to significantly lower anxiety and relieve depression. However, alongside the brain boost, swimming incorporates the same alternating stretches and regular breathing patterns of many yoga and other relaxation practices, creating a calming, meditative experience. In addition to providing opportunities for a safe and effective workout, application of such a meditative experience can be of particular value for veterans suffering from PTSD and the accompanying sleep issues that can occur.

Lastly, research shows that participation in swimming for individuals with disabilities afforded the participants heightened senses of self-concept, independence, ability and pride and an enhanced perceived quality of life. Athletes found that they were able to redefine their physical capabilities, strengthen social connections and improve acceptance among their peers. For veterans suffering from PTSD and failure to reintegrate, this is a vital piece of the healing puzzle.

PTSD Therapy Swim Program

Our aquatic therapy program/PTSD therapy swim program is custom-designed for each individual and does the following for physical and mental health:
• Increases resistance.
• Improves stamina, strength, and endurance.
• Encourages a broader range of movement and opposition.
• Reduces pain and tension in muscles and joints.
• Improves cardiovascular conditioning since the heart pumps more blood per beat when the body is submerged in water.
• Decreases post-exercise discomfort.
• Range of movement increases and repetition, stretching and balancing is more sustainable.
• Develops and maintains physical control.
• Increases energy levels.
• Achieve your weight loss goals.
• Helps to develop discipline.
• Improves psychological outlook.
• Enhances self-concept and confidence.
• Increases independence and quality of life.

The unique positioning of swimming as a PTSD therapy that works in both a physical and spiritual way, while having a profound healing effect on the brain, cannot be ignored or dismissed. Water has long been revered in all major world religions as a source of creative power, a giver and sustainer of life, and force of cleansing and purity. The thread woven throughout is clear. Water has the power to transform.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Swimming for PTSD Therapy appeared first on One with the Water.

Benefits of swimming for children with autism? Yes, there is a swimming study for that.

Increased mental health from consistent swimming workouts? Yes, a study for that too.

Longer life-span for swimmers? There is even a swimming study for that.

The positive effects of swimming specifically on an aging population. Well, how about this study, published in 2016? Most of the commonsense benefits of swimming and exercise can be broadly applied to the elderly but there was a dearth of research measuring specific outcomes for the aging populations.

Arthritis and Swimming

One determined doctor set out to change that. Dr. Hirofumi Tanaka is the director of the College of Education’s Cardiovascular Aging Research Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin. He has studied swimming and its benefits for going on 15 years, but his goal in this study was to provide evidence based research highlighting the positive effects of swimming on patients with osteoarthritis.

And he did.

“We’re finally getting data showing that swimming exercise reduces pain as well as improves functions in arthritis patients.”

The study, covering 45 patients over three months, was conclusive in determining that swimming accomplished significant reductions in joint pain, stiffness, and physical limitations accompanied by increases in quality of life.

Additionally, according to Dr. Tanaka in this interview for the University of Texas, beyond easing the pain of arthritis, the swimming is as effective as both cycling and moderate walking in lowering blood pressure and decreasing lower joint pain in obese or sedentary patients.

Bottom line – now we have a study for this too. Swimming can help save lives at all stages of life.

 Swim at any age!

Like Mr. Frost, who got back into the water for the first time in 60 years at the age of 91.

Help us help people take back their lives. From 2 to 20, 8 to 80, veterans, adaptive athletes, new swimmers, infants, toddlers and more. When you donate, your money goes toward teaching the lifesaving skill of swimming to ANYONE who needs it.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Creaky bones? Swimming helps that too! appeared first on One with the Water.