Stress Relief Exercise - Swimming

© Michelle Howard Smith - All Rights Reserved
 
We are living in a time where people are experiencing stress levels unlike ever before.  People are losing their homes, jobs and even their pension funds due to the economic instability this world is facing.  It’s not healthy to allow stressful circumstances to cause you to live your life day in and day out under stress.  A great suggestion to combat stress is stress relief exercise, specifically, swimming.

Swimming is a great stress relief exercise and also builds up your fitness level.  It doesn’t matter if its summer, winter, spring or fall, you can find a place to swim.  When it’s hot outdoors, you can swim at a local parks and recreations pool or in your own swimming pool if you have your own home.  During the colder months, there are indoor swimming pools in almost every city, some not far from home.  Swimming is a stress relief exercise that you can participate in any time of the year.  You can even sign up for swimming classes or programs that are tailored specifically to your fitness level.  Don’t know how to swim?  You can learn to do so by taking a local swimming class.

Before engaging in the stress relief exercise of swimming as well as any type of exercise, be sure to do your warm-up exercises.  Start with some stretches before getting into the water.  Once in the pool, take an easy lap to prepare your muscles.  Once into your swimming, you will be effectively lowering your stress levels

When you are experiencing seasons of high stress levels, consider getting in some extra swim time.  Use different swimming techniques to break out of your usual routine.  For example, switch between the breast stroke and back stroke.  This will give you a more challenging workout that will aggressively work towards combating stress.

Here are some tips to effectively use swimming as a stress relief exercise:

• Pay attention to your breathing.  When you are experiencing stress, your breathing is usually faster and more labored.  Focus on breathing at slow regular intervals to help reduce the feelings of stress and anxiety.
• Cool down your stress relief exercise routine to relax your muscles by taking one or two final laps at a slower pace.  You’ll reduce your risk of soreness the following day.
• After leaving the pool area, repeat some stretching exercises for maximum relaxation of your muscles
• Rest for a day in between your stress relief exercise activities

Swimming can be the perfect stress relief exercise.  You’ll get a great physical workout and at the same time you will be working those stressors out of your body.  That’s accomplishing the famous saying, “Killing two birds (no pun) with one stone.”  Try swimming as your stress relief exercise today.