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Neuroscience: Go Swimming and Your Brain Will Thank You
With summer here, many people’s minds are turning towards beach getaways, lakeside camping trips, or lazy days at the pool with the kids.
These kinds of water-based activities are a great way to relax and stay cool. But according to fascinating research in neuroscience, swimming isn’t just a fun vacation activity. It actually has special brain benefits that other forms of exercise just can’t match.
Not just another form of exercise
It will surprise exactly no one that exercise is good for your brain. (If this is news to you, here are some studies for you to get up to speed.) Swimming is, obviously, a form of exercise, so therefore it’s good for your brain too. And that’s the end of it, right?
Not exactly. Swimming is a perfectly excellent way to get the generalized benefits of more movement in your life if that’s your preferred way to work out. But psychologists and neuroscientists have uncovered a variety of unique benefits that swimming seems to provide.
1. Swimming reduces stress.
In fact, the benefits of swimming start before you even stick a toe in the water. Psychologists have discovered that even just looking at a beach seems to help us calm down and let go of stress.
