Swimming is a skill that a child learns – like riding a bicycle, dribbling a basketball, jumping rope, doing the hula-hoop – only swimming is not just a fun skill. It’s a life skill.
Considering just how important this skill is, it might be fun to know a few facts about it that you can wow your friends with during conversations.
12 Facts About Swimming
- Egyptians made a picture or symbol for swimming as far back as 2500 BC.
- Swimming has been a part of the Olympics since 1896.
- Some people think swimming started when a person fell into the water, panicked and started to “dog paddle.”
- Shorter hair on a swimmer makes it possible for that person to swim faster because there is less friction created by short hair than by long hair.
- Swimming works out all of the body’s major muscles.
- An hour of vigorous swimming will burn up to 650 calories. It burns off more calories than walking or biking.
- Swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise because a swimmer is moving against the water’s resistance, which is over ten times that of the air.
- Going swimming is a great stress reducer and has been compared to yoga and meditation in terms of its soothing effect on the mind and body.
- Water’s buoyancy makes swimming the ideal exercise for physical therapy and rehabilitation or for anyone seeking a low-impact exercise.
- Swimming is a very safe form of exercise because it is considered to be low impact and easy on the bones and joints and can be a great way to lose weight.
- Swimming is an ageless activity – possible at infancy and at every age up to the 80s or 90s.
- An estimated 65 thousand people in the United States alone do not know how to swim.
Little Otter Swim School’s team members are passionate about teaching kids to swim and be safe as they enjoy the water. We’d love to share more of the benefits of learning to swim with you. Learn more about what makes Little Otter different.
Conversations