People want pools in their backyards for different reasons and indeed, on-ground pools will fulfill many of these desires. Pools are certainly refreshing on a hot summer day; they’re nice to look at; and of course, they can provide hours of entertainment for children and adults alike. But some of the added and significant benefits of an on-ground pool are related to health, fitness and wellness. Exercise certainly may not be first on the list of reasons why to get an on-ground pool, but swimming is an amazing form of exercise and having a pool in your own backyard can make getting or staying healthy much more convenient.
Some of the real potential health benefits of swimming include:
- A Whole Body Workout: Swimming is a great whole-body workout and can be a major calorie burner. Depending on things like gender, body type, and weight, being active in the pool for an hour can burn almost 1,000 calories! You may not feel like you’re working hard while your swimming as the beautiful sunshine warms your face and the pool water cools your skin, but swimming is definitely a full body workout that burns calories like any other fitness routine. So while gliding through the water, you can burn through significant calories, develop muscle and improve cardiovascular health.
- Low-Impact Cardio: Swimming is an excellent low impact exercise which can be comparable to running without the added strain on joints. This makes swimming an ideal form of exercise for people who are older or who have joint injuries, or for those with other conditions such as arthritis that make them vulnerable to joint damage.
- Calorie-Burning Recreation: Even if you’re not in the mood to swim, calorie-burning activities can come from swimming for pure recreation and water sports that keep you active. Try another form of water recreational exercise like water aerobics, water volleyball, or water polo, to add some excitement to your backyard pool recreation-exercise routine.
- Mood-Boosting: Just as exercise alone can help improve mood and mental well-being, swimming offers particular mood-boosting capabilities. Indeed, for hundreds of years and in recent decades, medical experts have recommended hydrotherapy for both physical and mental health conditions. It seems most would agree that water induces a tranquil state, that can soothe away the stress and anxiety of overstimulated senses of the modern world. It may be what also drives us to take warm baths or hot tubs when we’re stressed or fatigued. Given this, combining exercise with the soothing waters of a backyard pool, may be a significant mood booster and contributor to overall well-being.
- Participation Across Generations: Backyard swimming pools such as on-ground pools have benefits for everyone and they can certainly appeal to a variety of people with different needs and interests. Indeed, there are few sports that toddlers, teens, middle-aged adults and grandparents can enjoy together but swimming and playing in a pool can offer an opportunity for everyone to participate.
- Lifelong Investment: Having a backyard pool also offers the opportunity to develop a lifelong skill and learning to swim at any age can be beneficial, Most certainly, swimming can be continued into our senior years and people with a wide variety of physical abilities can learn to swim and enjoy the benefits of exercising, playing and socializing in a backyard swimming pool.