An increasing number of elite athletes, including Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and J.J.

“Enjoy the hell out of it.”Īthletes are taking note. “Train hard, bust that record, but make time to flip over, breathe, turn the timer off and enjoy it,” Nichols said. So it’s a good idea to take a few minutes to simply float at the end of your workout if you want that chill blue mind effect. There’s just one thing: Intense or regimented exercise done in the water, like competitive swimming, can take away some of the mind-freeing benefits that water provides. Becker worked with Olympic and collegiate track athletes and found that water training boosted lower extremity endurance and reduced risk of injury. That translates into a significant training effect, along with the fact that swimming strengthens and lengthens the large, smooth muscles of the body. Immersion also produces a drop in blood pressure and an increase in blood flow to the heart and lungs, Becker said, and the weight of water on the chest also means the heart and lungs have to work harder to breathe. That means you feel more less stressed and more relaxed. That’s divided into the sympathetic system, or the flight or fight response, and the parasympathetic system, its slower, more relaxed counterbalance.īecker found that when you immerse in water, the sympathetic system plummets, allowing the parasympathetic system to dominate. “The central nervous system has a motherboard that regulates subconscious functions like heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate, plus a bunch of cognitive things,” he said. Even just submerging in water can promote well-being, studies show.īruce Becker, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, wanted to know why nearly everyone gets the same sigh of relief after sinking into a hot bath at the end of a tough day, so he studied the primary regulators of mood. Swimming in particular provides all-over benefits, including some surprising ones. “Those distractions fade away with every stroke, every paddle.” “That feed of information - the tether - is broken,” said Nichols, who also points out that electronic devices don’t last long in the water.

Dr wallace nichols blue mind