How swimming at Warwick Sports Hub has helped my mental health

I started swimming lessons at a very young age and I’ve also had anxiety since before I can remember. I always used to think that swimming could only bring me physical benefits; however, buying a swimming membership at Warwick Sports Hub has made me rethink the sport that I loved as a child. I have come to realise that swimming is a way to strengthen my well-being.

From a very young age until I was about 15, I used to go swimming every week. Though I never swam competitively, it is something that I will look back on with pride. Whilst I felt satisfaction from doing physical exercise every week, it was also a very therapeutic way to forget about all my worries – it was almost like my mental reset for the week.

I’m not the only one to praise the mental benefits of swimming. A 2012 survey of nearly 1200 swimmers aged 16-45 around the world conducted by Speedo investigated how swimmers felt about their sport: 74% said swimming helps release stress and tension, 68% of respondents said being in the water helps them feel good about themselves, and 70% said swimming helps them feel mentally refreshed.

It wasn’t until I started swimming again in my first year of university at Warwick’s Sport Hub that I realised how much it had helped with my anxiety and general mental health

When the 2020 lockdown hit, my swimming instructor had to stop our sessions meaning that I didn’t swim for two years. Lockdown was a time of immense stress and anxiety, a time when no one really knew what to do with themselves. Having my own GCSEs cancelled and doing part of my A-Levels online made this time a period of heightened anxiety for me.

It wasn’t until I started swimming again in my first year of university at Warwick’s Sport Hub that I realised how much it had helped with my anxiety and general mental health. Buying a swimming membership at the Warwick Sports Hub was one of the best decisions that I made in my first year, and I have happily continued it into my second.

To use the pool at the Warwick Sports Hub you do not have to book a time or day that you are going to swim, you can turn up whenever you feel like it. The pool offers a very helpful online swim timetable which allows you to see when the pool will be busy. It also tells you when societies have booked out some of the lanes, and when external sessions are being held.

Personally, I have been to some of the ‘female-only swimming’ days – these are included in the timetable which is considerate of those who may feel more comfortable swimming in this sort of environment.

In addition to this useful timetable offered by the Sports Hub, I have had nothing but positive interactions with the staff. The changing rooms are always kept in perfect condition, and the pool itself is well organised, with all the lanes being signposted according to the speed you wish to swim. It’s very well arranged and structured without all the unnecessary stress that I have experienced in other sports centres.

Warwick Sports Centre has truly made me fall back in love with a sport I thought I’d never get back into again

The swimming pool is like my sanctuary, an escape from the outside world, a place where I can forget about the past and future, and focus on the present. The silence that comes from being underwater is a different sort of silence, one where I can stop and think but also one where I don’t have to think at all. Warwick Sports Centre has truly made me fall back in love with a sport I thought I’d never get back into again.

Swimming has had many benefits for all types of people. Brock Whiston, a 24-year-old British Paralympic swimmer, said that it makes him feel accepted, saying that: “When I swim, it’s just me and the water with no other distractions. I don’t feel as though I have a disability. No one looks at me differently – I feel included and proud of what I can achieve.”

Furthermore, Perry Swann, a Bupa Health Adviser who has a level 1 qualification in teaching swimming, finds swimming therapeutic, stating that: “Whether it’s training, racing, or for leisure, swimming always helps me disconnect from everything else. For me it’s a form of meditation as I’m able to feel the water and forget about everything else while I’m there.”

I feel like swimming is one of those overlooked sports especially when it’s taken at a non-competitive level; some people find it too repetitive or monotonous, while others find it lacks potential for social interaction, or is a rather lonely sport to partake in. However, I think it’s important to look for the joy in swimming along with the mental health advantages that it has to offer.