A senior health educator has been promoting the health benefits of swimming in a ground-breaking new report.
Health Education England chief executive Professor Ian Cumming is a level 3 swimming coach – and was asked by the organisation Swim England to lead a Swimming and Health Commission.
His report published yesterday is claimed as the first of its kind to conduct a systematic review of the health benefits of a particular sport.
It says that swimming is linked to reduced mortality and improved general health at all ages.
It says that water-based exercise prescriptions should be a key consideration for clinicians.
The report says: "Whilst there is a large body of literature considering aquatic exercise per se, there is relatively much less exploring the effects of swimming as a unique activity.
"It is imperative that this is addressed in future research, particularly given the compelling evidence presented that swimmers demonstrate lower all-cause mortality rates, and reduced incidence of falls in later life."
It adds: "As one of the most popular modes of physical activity, swimming/aquatic exercise confers significant physical health benefits for both healthy individuals and those with disease.
"Furthermore, these health benefits extend across the entire life-course – this chapter has presented evidence that demonstrates favourable effects of aquatic exercise from foetus through to the frail elderly."
Professor Cumming said: "The Swimming and Health Commission was established by Swim England to explore the evidence base for the health benefits of swimming.
"The resulting academic report is a ground-breaking collection of papers that identify striking and robust evidence for the significant improvements in health and quality of life that swimming produces.
"Swim England is the first sport governing body to support such an in-depth investigation of its relationship with health and wellbeing and I would like to applaud them for their foresight and for producing a piece of work that I am sure will become a reference document for many years to come."
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