Swimming = Big Benefits for the Brain!

 

It’s no secret that cardiovascular exercise can help slow down some of the worst aspects of aging, but research suggests that swimming provides a unique boost to brain health.

Regular swimming improves cognitive function, memory, mood, and immune response. Swimming may also help mitigate damage from stress and create new neural connections in the brain.

Aerobic Exercise and New and improved brain cells and connections

There is research proving that aerobic exercise improve neurogenesis (creation of new neurons aka brain cells) and help reverse and repair damage to brain neurons and their connection in both mammals and fish.

These benefits come in large part through higher levels of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor or BDNF for short. The neural plasticity, or ability of the brain to adapt is stimulated by BDNF.     BDNF acts like Miracle Grow for the brain and is proven to boost cognitive function including memory and learning.

Research in humans shows a strong relationship between BDNF levels and increases in the size of the hippocampus area of the brain which is responsible for learning and memory.   BDNF has also been shown to help alleviate anxiety and depression.  In contrast, research has shown that lower BDNF levels are linked to mood disorders in humans.

But what’s special about swimming?

Researchers are not sure what swimming’s secret sauce might be. But they’re getting closer to understanding it.  Because swimming involves all of the major muscle groups, the cardiovascular system increases blood flow which leads to many benefits including the creation of new blood vessels known as angiogenesis.  The greater blood flow can also lead to a big boost of endorphins that act as a natural pain reducer throughout the body.  This surge is one factor linked to the sense of euphoria that often follows exercise.

In addition, by its very nature swimming involves breathing stress and increased levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) tolerance as you hold your breath between strokes.    This creates mild hypoxia (lower blood oxygen) and hypercapnia (higher levels of CO2).   This gentle stressor results in positive adaptations in the circulatory system including increase oxygen carrying capacity.   In addition improved tolerance of CO2 is very helpful for anxiety.

Although most studies on swimming and brain function have been done in animals, research in people shows similar results suggesting a clear cognitive benefit from swimming at all ages.  For instance, in one study looking at the impact of swimming on mental acuity in the elderly, researchers concluded that swimmers had improved mental speed and attention compared to non-swimmers.

Kids Also Benefit!

The brain-enhancing benefits from swimming boost learning in children. Researchers found that children’s accuracy was much higher for words learned following swimming compared with coloring and CrossFit, which resulted in the same level of recall. This shows a clear cognitive benefit from swimming versus anaerobic exercise, though the study does not compare swimming with other aerobic exercises. These findings imply that swimming for even short periods of time is highly beneficial to young, developing brains.