Swimming May Slow Down Aging for Decades

Swimming is good for just about everyone. It accommodates all ages, stages, abilities and disabilities.

There’s also evidence it can slow down the aging process.

A long-term study at Indiana University Bloomington’s Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming found that Masters Swimmers (over age 35) who swam roughly 3,200 to 4,500 metres (about 3.2 to 4.8 kilometres) three to five times a week, postponed the aging process. And not just for a few years but for decades, according to traditional age markers like muscle mass blood pressure and lung function.

But you don’t have to be a Masters Swimmer to benefit from swimming. Far from it.

“The health and well-being benefits start with a minimal amount of swimming,” Counsilman Centre Director Joel Stager is quoted as saying in the university’s newsletter. “If you want the fitness effect, you’ll need to look at getting your heart rate up and boosting the intensity.”

Another study, by Dr. Steven Blair at the University of South Carolina, has shown swimming dramatically reduces the risk of dying. The study spanned 32 years and followed 40,000 men, aged 20 to 90. Those who swam had a 50 per cent lower death rate than runners, walkers and those who didn’t exercise at all.

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Photo by Örlygur Hnefill