The Health Benefits of Swimming for Women Over 65
It's no surprise that for older women, swimming is one of the best forms of exercise. Here's what you can get out of it.
It's no secret that swimming is a great form of exercise. It helps build lean muscles, is a great cardiovascular workout, and it burns a crazy amount of calories. It works out your whole body - when you swim, you engage your arms, legs, back, and abdominal muscles, toning all of them at once. In addition, swimming is a whole lot of fun! People of all ages love splashing around at the pool. However, swimming can be particularly beneficial, health wise, to senior citizens. Wondering why? Keep reading to learn about all the swimming health benefits for senior citizens!
Low-Impact Exercise
Getting in the pool is a great way for seniors to stay healthy!
For senior citizens, swimming is probably the safest and most effective exercise option out there. High impact activities such as running can hit the joints (especially your knees!) hard, causing joint discomfort and pain. In addition, people who suffer from arthritis may find running painful. However, other low impact exercises such as road cycling may be hazardous and stressful. Swimming, however, allows seniors to experience the benefits of exercise without putting any additional stress or pain on joints. Swap those running sneakers or that biking helmet for a tankini swimsuit, and you're good to go!
Muscle Toning
Another swimming health benefit for seniors is that it is a great opportunity to get some strength training in without having to lift a single dumbbell. Water is thicker and denser than air, so with each stroll or movement, muscles experience greater resistance than if that same movement was made out of the water. According to this website, regularly exercising by swimming resulted in a 27% strength increase in the quadriceps, a 10% strength increase in the upper body, and a 40% strength increase in the hamstrings! These impressive numbers are a great reason to put on your swimsuit and get in the pool! Strength gains such as these are great for anyone's health, but especially for seniors.
Get a Healthier Heart
In addition to toning muscles, swimming helps improve the most important muscle in your body. Your heart. The American Heart Association reports that just 30 minutes of daily exercise like swimming, can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease in women by 30 to 40%. Studies have also shown that swimming can help lower cholesterol and blood pressure. It's a great way to help you live better longer.
Increased Flexibility
For many older people, stiffness and rigidity is a real problem, and can detract from that person's life quality. Luckily, swimming exercises and aqua-aerobics classes can be the thing that helps gain some of that youthful flexibility back. By exercising and moving your joints in the low impact environment of a pool, you can increase your flexibility and reduce stiffness in problem places such as your helps, back, legs, neck, and arms. This can lead to a more pain-free life overall!
Social Benefits
In addition to all the physical benefits of swimming, swimming classes and group water aerobics classes are a great way for older people to meet other seniors! Not only will they be meeting new people, but they'll also be introduced to people who share their same interests - namely, exercise and staying healthy. If Mom's feeling nervous or shy, maybe buy her a lovely new one piece to get her excited! The social and psychological benefits of being a part of a group exercise class can be just as powerful as the health benefits of senior citizen exercise.
Be a Sexy Grandma
The more you swim the better you'll look. The better you look, the better you feel. So why not flaunt what you've got? Many older women think that if they're swimming they can only wear an athletic style bathing suit. But there's no reason women over 65 can't look good in their swimwear. You'll look and feel younger in your swimsuit when you buy a trendy new bathing suit that compliments your more mature figure.
Check out the Anne Cole Control line of women's swimwear. The conservative swimwear styles flatter older women better than most other brands. The suits are even specially engineered to smooth more troubled areas around your tummy giving you a leaner fitter look. Be sure to read our post on swimwear for mature women for even more swim style inspiration for older ladies like yourself.
Check out these very nice swimsuits for women over 65 plus many more when you shop for women's swimwear online at SwimsuitsDirect.com.