As if it weren't enough for Olympic swimming stars to be perfect physical specimens, it turns out their brains may be equally impressive.
As if it weren’t enough for Olympic swimming stars to be perfect physical specimens, it turns out their brains may be equally impressive.
Research suggests that swimming is as good for your grey matter as it is for your muscles. While it’s been known for some time that aerobic exercise can help to delay the neurological effects of ageing, it seems that swimming may hold specific benefits including improved memory, cognitive function, immune response and mood.
In a study of mental acuity in the elderly, researchers concluded that “swimmers had better mental speed and attention compared to non swimmers”. But it’s not just the elderly who stand to benefit from the occasional dip.
One study comparing young-adult land-based athletes and swimmers found that 20 minutes of moderate-intensity breaststroke swimming improved cognitive function. And another studying the link between physical activity and vocabulary learning found that children exhibited better recall of newly learned words after swimming than they did after colouring (a resting activity) or CrossFit. Of course, those words were “let me out of the pool” and “I don’t want to do this experiment any more.”
While researchers are yet to nail down exactly why swimming is so beneficial to the brain compared to other forms of aerobic exercise, the data seems to suggest a strong connection.
On the other hand, the recent release of fourteen years of research into Australian swimming’s culture has exposed rampant braindead behaviour by coaches towards their students, including incidents of misogynistic abuse. In one such case, a teenage boy was made to wear a girl’s swimming costume as punishment for not achieving a fast enough time.
Obviously, a harder, better, faster, stronger brain isn’t necessarily a smarter one.
Send chlorine-scented tips to felicity@medicalrepublic.com.au.
