As an avid swimmer and a high school student, I constantly get asked how I stay calm amid all the stress I am going through - may it be SAT prep stress, getting admission into a good College stress, performing well in swim meets, doing well in school and keeping up my GPA or finding time to have fun! My answer is: Good question! All jokes aside, basically everyone has an innate fear of stress infiltrating and consuming our lives. Stress, unfortunately, creeps into all our lives, no matter who we are or what we do.
Swimming is one of the main ways I deal with stress, and I think it’s a super useful tool to relieve any pressure or tension you might be feeling in your life. Now, I know you might be saying, “Easy for you to say Prisha! You swim competitively and do it for the competition aspect of it.” While that may be partially true, swimming has been proven to help people of all ages and levels to release stress and feelings of anxiety or depression. Swimming also releases endorphins. Endorphins are natural, feel good hormones that lead us to experience a sense of happiness and wellbeing.
If you are interested in learning more about how swimming can be utilized by all ages to manage stress, come and join our free weekly mindfulness classes! This is a new class we are adding this coming summer and I have a feeling will help a lot of us. We hope to see you all there!