REDUCING CHOLESTEROL THROUGH SWIMMING AND TRIATHLON

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​As most people know, swimming is an excellent form of aerobic exercise. Whether its performing distance training in the pool (or even taking a Strictly Swimming London lesson), it helps strengthen the heart by increasing blood flow and helping it to even increase in size.

Swimming is also one of the best forms of exercise when it comes to increasing efficiency of the heart in pumping blood around the body. This increase of good blood flow has a fantastic impact on reducing bad cholesterol on both men and women adult swimmers.
 
What is cholesterol?
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Cholesterol is a fatty, waxy substance which is vital for your body to function day to day. A small amount of cholesterol is healthy, as it forms part of the cell walls and is also necessary to create hormones.
 
What are the two different types of cholesterol?

There are two main types of cholesterol – LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) or ‘bad’ cholesterol and HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) or ‘good’ cholesterol. HDL cholesterol is beneficial to the body. As adults, through our diets and lifestyles, LDL cholesterol can build up and fatty deposits can develop along the walls of arteries. Over time this causes the arteries to become narrow and blocked, reducing blood supply to the heart.

This process is called atherosclerosis and can eventually cause symptoms of angina or even result in a heart attack or stroke. One cause of high LDL cholesterol is a diet high in saturated fat. The fat in the food that we eat is then digested and taken to the liver, where it is metabolised into cholesterol.
 
HDL cholesterol, however, helps remove other forms of cholesterol from your bloodstream and are associated with a lower risk of heart disease. HDL picks up excess cholesterol in your blood and takes it back to your liver where it's broken down and removed from your body.
 
Benefits of Swimming on your Cholesterol

1. Swimming definitely increases good cholesterol. By increasing your HDL cholesterol by 1%, the risk of dying from heart disease reduces by 3.5%
2. The fat burning properties of swimming 30 minutes or more (or even during your Strictly Swimming London lesson) will reduce your dangerous cholesterol
3. Some studies show that swimming boosts your metabolism more than most sports and increase good cholesterol more than most sports.
4. A 30-minute workout in the water is comparable to 45 minutes of land-based exercise due to the added resistance of the water against your body
5. Many studies show that aerobic swimming is an excellent way of keeping your arteries open, flexible and in good shape.
6. Many people who take up triathlon are also looking to reduce their bad cholesterol as they age.
7. Swimming training at only moderate intensity, significantly reduces total cholesterol 
8. If you are an open water swimmer, a recent study showed excellent evidence that cold water swimming decreases LDL cholesterol. The extreme cold water increased blood circulation dramatically (through increased metabolism) and this in turn helped decreasing their bad cholesterol.

 
If you're already a swimmer or participate in triathlons, you've will have discovered the benefits of swimming already. If you aren't, it's never too late to learn how to swim or to brush up on strokes that you learned as a kid. Our Strictly Swimming London coaches can even tailor your lesson to develop aerobic swim training during your lesson.

​As an adult who may be concerned about cholesterol, just remember swimming ultimately prevents heart disease!!!

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