It is worth to make your child feel like a fish in water, because swimming is a number of invaluable benefits for his development. What makes a swimming pool an indispensable ally of a child’s health?
Nothing develops the respiratory system like swimming. Why is it so important? Compared to adults, children have a smaller chest and weaker respiratory muscles. The short and narrow airways, which are lined with a delicate mucous membrane, make children much more susceptible to infections than adults.
When swimming, your child breathes clean, humidified air and their breathing organs must resist the pressure of the water. Each inhale and exhale is excellent gymnastics for the respiratory muscles, making the chest more flexible and increasing lung capacity. The result? The child catches infections less often and does not know what pneumonia or bronchitis are.
There is no doubt that children who attend swimming classes are stronger and healthier, they get sick less often, and if they catch an infection, it passes in a flash. Again, it’s all about breathing. Swimming forces deep and intense breathing, clears the nasal passages, decongests the airways, and facilitates the removal of bronchial secretions.
Swimming improves the function of the heart and blood vessels. In the pool, the child assumes a horizontal position and experiences something akin to a state of weightlessness. Exercising in water strengthens the heart muscle, dilates the blood vessels, causing faster blood circulation. So it’s the perfect sport for little freezers!
Swimming develops correct posture. When in water, gravity doesn’t affect the spine as much as it does in the air and lets it rest. The even work of the spinal muscles helps to even out the posture. A baby’s spine, which is soft and flexible, is not yet fully formed and is therefore easily twisted. The buoyancy force keeping the child on the water surface relieves the musculoskeletal system and promotes proper body posture. It is the pool that saves the child from scoliosis and it improves motor coordination.
Swimming is one of the few sports that involves all the muscles of the body. Training in water evenly loads all the muscle groups, which creates conditions conducive to their work. Strong muscles will also translate into comfort for your child during several hours of sitting in school desks. In the pool your child will gain strength and endurance.
Swimming helps fight stress, both physical and mental. Instead of focusing on the problem, change the activity and the environment. So if your child is stuck on his homework for the third hour and can’t solve it, let him divert his attention to training in water. The relaxation he or she will experience there will translate into their state of mind. Just watch, when he comes back, he will solve his task without much effort.
There are many more reasons to take your child to the pool, but you have to stop at something. So let’s add that swimming improves metabolism, sleep, appetite… After the pool the child is hungry as a wolf and sleeps like a killed. Swimming strengthens the body, improves blood circulation, respiratory capacity, has a soothing effect on the nerves… What more do you need?
Main photo: Briana Tozour/unsplash.com
