Swimming benefit

Swimming is considered one of the best forms of aerobics and muscle stimulation. Since the pressure of the water outside the body is greater than the pressure from the inside, water helps blood flow from the limbs to the heart and lungs. The heart reacts to this with extra effort, pumping that extra blood more efficiently with each beat. As a result, blood circulation throughout the body is increased by 30 percent over normal conditions. The lungs receive more blood volume, which, combined with the pressure the water puts on the chest wall, makes them work about 60 percent harder than on land. Consequently, water exercise helps to strengthen the respiratory muscles and increase their efficiency.

Muscles also benefit from increased blood circulation as they receive more blood and therefore oxygen. It is also very useful because it takes a lot of effort to move the body in the water. Swimming perfectly develops large groups of smooth muscles of the body, stretches and lengthens muscles, joints and ligaments with each swing of the limbs, and the head and spine get an excellent warm-up with each breath of the swimmer. When swimming, our body feels like it is resting or meditating. In other words, being in the water itself is relaxing, stress-reducing and physically strengthening.

Surfers literally tune in to the water, getting used to watching carefully for hours and noticing the slightest changes, looking for the smallest indications that the next wave will be, if not ideal, then at least suitable in order to ride it. They are both in the water and on it. They know that the wave can hit them on the shore, scratch their bodies with sand, stones or rocks, and that they may have to fight for their lives, fighting with powerful vortex energy. And yet they look forward to another chance to jump onto their board.

When a surfer is just starting to learn the basics of this sport, the strongest surge of dopamine occurs even when he manages to just stand on the board: “I never thought I could do it!” Subsequently, surfing does not give exactly the same feeling. It is always new and fresh. Each next wave carries something unpredictable. Aerobic exercise (including surfing) produces a special kind of euphoria. The feelings experienced at the peak of emotional experiences are multiplied by the splendor of the surfer’s environment. And adding the action of dopamine, endorphins and the beauty of nature, adding to this the rush of adrenaline – in total, you will get an experience that causes quick and highly addictive. By the way, this is why surfing can save people from drug and alcohol addiction.

If swimming offers the body a new experience, then diving is truly a gateway to another world, a world that teases and even distorts our senses. When immersed in water, our cells, which by nature were not at all designed for this, the environment exerts quite strong pressure. Vision and hearing function differently under water, movements become slow and exaggerated; gliding under water, you literally push it out of your way with your hands, feet and body. Colors are also distorted, distance is not clearly perceived, and sound moves with greater speed, and sometimes it seems that it is heard from everywhere at the same time.

The world on the surface with all its obligations and concerns seems distant, even somewhat unreal. “You are some 12 meters below your normal environment, and it seems as if you are several light years away from it,” said one diver. “The usual noises of the outside world disappear, they are replaced by the even noise of their own breathing in the air regulator.” In addition, diving is one of the ways to get the coveted dose of dopamine, and therefore, the corresponding emotions. People return to the surface calmer and happier than they were before the dive. But be careful: if you have health problems, diving may not be suitable for you.

Scientists from the United States and Australia have found that people do not fish to catch fish. People go to the river with a fishing rod to rest, calm down, get away from everyday life, be in the fresh air, and experience a sense of freedom. Fishing requires a proper physical and psychological attitude, that is, the ability to concentrate, think clearly and clearly, as well as a firm hand and the ability to manage your emotions: delight, disappointment, boredom. And, of course, you need a lot of patience, and the ability to instantly react to the tension of the line the second when the fish swallows the bait.

In addition, as in scuba diving, it is important to be able to slow down in time and appreciate the beauty of the landscape of which you have become a part. If you succeed in doing all of this, then you can get the undeniable health benefits described by one Australian study. It says, in particular, that the preparation process and the fishing trip itself (preferably with other fishermen) is soothing, by reducing stress, the cardiovascular system is strengthened and an overall feeling of well-being is formed. Not surprisingly, fishing of all kinds has been used successfully in wellness therapy.

Today, there are programs around the world in which boating and sailing are used as rehabilitation therapy for people with disabilities (including those with paralysis, blindness, deafness or amputated limbs); with developmental disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and Down syndrome; patients with craniocerebral and other injuries, as well as survivors of mental trauma.

The study found that sailing results in people gaining 91 percent more confidence and, according to their own estimates, 90 percent better teamwork skills. And as many as 99 percent of the respondents say that thanks to classes, they began to have a much more positive attitude towards life. Without a doubt, in the process of this new, enjoyable, partly stressful experience, the brain is properly tuned, forcing the participants to strive for social contact, increasing the sense of empathy and the willingness to support and help others. Yachtsmen and boaters often say that they feel freer on the boat. To paraphrase one poem, in a boat (on a yacht, in a kayak, a kayak and on other ships and small boats) you feel like “the master of your destiny, the captain of your soul”.