Swimming is a lot of fun but the benefits of swimming are serious. Not only can swimming add to your weight loss routine, but regular swims can so help you tone up and recover from a workout - or an injury. In this article, we lay out swimming benefits for mental and physical health at any age.
| 😊Benefit | 😎How it works |
|---|---|
| Physical benefits | |
| Cardiovascular health | Helps strengthen heart and lungs. Helps lower blood pressure and increase circulation. |
| Muscle strength | Engages several muscle groups. Water resistance creates a no-impact strength training environment. |
| Musculoskeletal health | Helps strengthen and improve joint condition. Boosts flexibility and increases range of motion. |
| Weight management | Movement in water enhances calorie burn. |
| Mental-psychological benefits | |
| Stress and mood | Helps reduce stress and boost endorphins. Creates a meditative environment. |
| Depression | Helps manage depression symptoms. |
| Cognitive function | Increased bloodflow to the brain may enhance memory and reduce cognitive decline risks. |
| Benefits for all | |
| Children | Safe, healthy, fun way to get exercise. Great for physical development and building coordination. |
| Adults | A low-impact way to tone and condition the body. |
| Seniors | May improve balance and minimise falling risks. A great way to boost mobility. |
| People with chronic conditions | May alleviate symptoms. May improve their quality of life. |
Physical Health Benefits of Swimming
One of the main reasons why most people exercise is to improve their physical fitness. That has become especially important in the last decades as more people earn their living in sedentary jobs.
A sedentary lifestyle leads to several problems such as backaches, heart disease, lack of energy and low endurance.
A sedentary lifestyle may also cause mental problems because we don't have a way to let our stress out and it keeps accumulating over time.
In fact, swimming delivers several mental health benefits, as we explore below. Here, we only need to say that regular physical exercise can help you manage, and even reverse, most of the issues a sedentary lifestyle causes1.
Swimming for Cardiovascular Health
When you take swimming lessons in Australia, you'll work the muscles of along your entire body, including the back, abs, legs and core. As you do so, you're also working your heart and lungs.
Swimming is a cardiovascular exercise, and it's great training for endurance. After swimming regularly for one or two months, you'll be able to go upstairs without getting out of breath and take greater pleasure in your walks and outdoor activities in general.
Swimming to Build Muscle Endurance
At first glance, it doesn't seem like swimming could have the same muscle building effects as, say, weight-lifting or strength training. Though these two sports have a lot in common as far as muscles are concerned, we find one substantial difference2:
Swimming functions like resistance training to improve muscular endurance.
Strength training revolves around progressive overload, which contributes to muscle growth.
Obviously, strength and endurance are two different qualities. You might say that endurance underpins and makes strength training possible. So, if you're considering adding strength training to your fitness routine, think about making swimming a part of it, first.
Swim for Flexibility and Joint Health
Swimming has a significant advantage over other sports, namely that is harmless to your joints. When you swim, the water supports your body weight, so your joints don't suffer from impact while our muscles are training.
Land-based exercises, even walking, jar ankles, knees, hips, and the lower back.
Besides protecting your joints, swimming is a great way to improve your range of movement3. For these exercises, too, water acts as a resistance body. It cushions your movements even as you push against it.
Swimming for Weight Management
There is no magic bullet in either controlling diabetes or weight loss.
Dr. Thomas Collins-Pallett, family medicine
To echo that good doctor, we reinforce that swimming is also not a magic bullet. However, adding swimming to your weight reduction plan - all the lifestyle changes you made, you're embracing a winning strategy.
As a low-risk, low-impact activity, swimming is perfect for all groups, regardless of age and physical health.
Mental Health Swimming Benefits
We all know exercise is good, and swimming is particularly good for the body, as noted above. What most people overlook and maybe don't think about, is how good swimming can be for your mind and mood4. Isn't that a great reason to find swimming lessons from Superprof?
Swim to Improve Cognitive Function
Whether you are a student or have an intellectual job that doesn't require a lot of movement, physical exercise can help you improve your results. That's because regularly practising sports is not only good for our body, it's good for our mind.
Swimming, a great activity for our lungs, also delivers more oxygen to our brain. As the cardio workout speeds up our heart rate, it pumps more blood, sending the brain its extra share.
It's normal to feel a bit tired after a swimming session. Despite the fatigue, you may notice that your ideas come through more clearly. Over the long term, swimming can produce a long-lasting positive effect on your brain so you can study, work, and think more efficiently.
Are you ready to start adult swimming lessons with Superprof, so you too can reap these benefits?
Swim to Reduce Stress and Boost Mood
Another mental benefit of swimming is that it's a great stress reliever. It is a widely known fact that when we exercise, our body starts releasing endorphins, the feel-good hormone that provokes happiness.
When we study or work, we can often get into challenging situations. We need a way to let the tension out. Next time that happens to you, just drop by a pool on your way home to experience these results.
Swimming as Exercise Across Populations
Around the world, millions of people take to the water every day. Some are keen paddleboarders while others live to dive or surf6. And of course, plenty of people swim for exercise. This sport is particularly beneficial for these demographics.
Swimming for Children
This fear can grow into full-blown aquaphobia, a debilitating, pathological fear of water. The best way to counter this fear is to teach people water skills as early as possible.
But reducing the fear of water is just one benefit of children learrning to swim as early as possible.
Children and physical activity are natural partners and, indeed, professionnals recommend that children engage in sports. Swimming can be an excellent option for them.
Swimming helps kids improve their coordination and boost their stamina and strength. It's also a great way to develop a healthy competitive spirit and be more tenacious when facing difficulties.
Children can start learning to swim from a very young age and do it in total safety, as long as they have a qualified teacher. You can find more reasons to teach your kids to swim in our article.
Health Benefits of Swimming for the Elderly
Old age ain't no place for sissies.
Attributed to Bette Davis
Old age does a number on our bodies. Conventional wisdom states that staying active and mobile is the best way to slow down those ravages. When your knees ache, your bones are brittle, and your balance isn't so great, the pool is the best place to get your fitness on.
That last is a mental health benefit that's not wholly due to swimming, but the water environment helps, nevertheless (remember the endorphins!). In all, the benefits of swimming for elderly people are so extensive5, we have a whole article devoted to the topic.
Swimming Benefits People with Chronic Conditions
The people swimming for rehabilitation already know how benefiticial swimming is to managing their condition. As a low-risk exercise, swimming is perfectly suitable for people recovering from injuries or having chronic health problems7.
Like the senior dog in the clip above that finds relief from arthritis, human arthritis sufferers also enjoy a lessening of their symptoms in the water. Particularly if the water is warm.
Our modern, convenient lifestyle comes at a cost. Today, more people live with chronic conditions, including:
- asthma: the moist, warm pool air helps keep airways open, and helps prevent them from drying out.
- fibromyalgia: warm water helps reduce pain and stiffness; it also helps ease depression.
- diabetes: water activity helps improve insulin sensitivity and regulate glucose levels.
- heart disease: Swimming helps build cardiovascular endurance and enhances heart efficiency.
- Muscular dystrophy: Swimming helps maintain muscle tone and builds muscle endurance.
- neurological conditions: swimming helps improve balance, coordination, and respiratory function.
To date, there are no cures, or even determined causes, for some of these conditions. However, there's no doubt that swimming can provide relief.
Expectant mothers may also find relief and maintain their fitness levels while swimming.
If these swimming benefits have tempted you into embracing this sport, check out these adult swimming lessons from Superprof. Your Superprof swimming coach will oversee your technique while you swim and help you tweak it when needed. When swimming correctly, you'll enjoy that great activity even better and reap even more benefits.
Further Reading
- Chase, Nancy L., et al. “Comparison of the Health Aspects of Swimming with Other Types of Physical Activity and Sedentary Lifestyle Habits.” International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, vol. 2, no. 2, May 2008, https://doi.org/10.25035/ijare.02.02.07.
- Setton, James. “Swimming and Muscle Growth: Examining Aquatic Workouts.” SwimRight Academy, 13 July 2022, www.swimrightacademy.com/does-swimming-build-muscle-blogpost/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
- Fattakhov, Slava . “Enhance Flexibility: Benefits of Swimming Lessons in Miami.” Private Swimming Lessons in Miami Area, 15 Oct. 2024, www.coachslava.com/swimming-fitness-workouts/how-swimming-improves-flexibility-and-mobility. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
- Swim, Watermelon. “3 Ways Swimming Improves Your Mental Health - Blog.” Watermelon Swim, 7 Apr. 2025, watermelonswim.com/how-does-swimming-improve-mental-health/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
- McLeod, Julianna. “Why Swimming May Be the Best Exercise for Older Adults – All Seniors Care.” All Seniors Care, 20 Nov. 2023, allseniorscare.com/why-swimming-may-be-the-best-exercise-for-older-adults/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
- Peek Pro. “Top Water Sports Industry Trends and Statistics in 2025.” Peekpro.com, 27 Mar. 2025, www.peekpro.com/blog/water-sport-industry-trends-statistics. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026
- HotSpring. “How Swimming Can Help Active Recovery | Hot Spring Spas Australia.” Hotspring.com.au, 2022, hotspring.com.au/blog/how-swimming-can-help-active-recovery/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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