It’s That Simple: Swimming Is Good for Your Brain!

According to recent studies in the United States, swimming may just be the best physical activity to boost memory and has been shown to improve cognitive performance and reduce the risks of dementia.

“After just seven days of swim training, researchers saw improvements in both short- and long-term memories,” says Seena Mathew, neurobiologist and author of an in-depth article on the subject, and referring to the recent studies with rats, adding that “research in people is producing similar results that suggest a clear cognitive benefit from swimming across all ages.”

For the study done on rats, the rodents’ cognitive abilities were tested in a maze following an hour of swimming every day. In humans, swimmers had an extra cognitive boost compared with athletes in land sports. As for children, they memorized more vocabulary following swimming than after coloring or doing a CrossFit-like activity. “These findings imply that swimming for even short periods of time is highly beneficial to young, developing brains.”