Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Saltwater Swimming

I have always had a love/hate relationship with swimming. As a kid, my siblings and I would spend our summers in South Carolina with our grandparents, swimming almost every day at either the pool, the beach, or both. Somehow, we never got bored of our routine as we put on our swimsuits and rode our bikes off to the designated swimming spot each day. The only issue was the vote. Where to go, or at least, where to go first. I loved the beach for the sun and the waves, and the excitement of not knowing what it would be like each day. My brother and sister preferred the pool because it was cleaner and closer. For me, the chlorine bothered me enough to make me want to avoid being in it too long. I would wear goggles and, yes, a nose plug, because if water did get up my nose it would make me sneeze uncontrollably.

Later on in high school, it was my brother and sister who became lifeguards, and my sister a swim-team star, while I kept to my running and sitting the sidelines on the soccer team. The pool as a place for exercise never held on for me. Until now.

Our home here in Florida has a saltwater pool. According to wikipedia, Salt water chlorination uses dissolved salt as a store for the chlorine generator instead of directly adding chlorine. Chlorine is still present in the water, but in a lesser amount, so that it does not produce the level of irritation many people experience in a chlorine pool.

My mother was the first person to discover that the pool water was salty. She had been visiting for a few days the week after we arrived. We, of course, had been in the pool many times already, but hadn't been able to pinpoint the difference in the water. Somehow I had forgotten my long-ago sensitivity to chlorine. When my mom got a taste of the water in her mouth, she was in shock that it was saltwater, and that we had no idea. Suddenly, my memory was jostled back to life, and I recalled our real estate agent mentioning the saltwater pool in her description of the property she visited in our absence. It was a minor detail which I must not have written down as I hastily scribbled notes on her impression of this house, just minutes before agreeing, over the phone, to rent it for the year.

Ever since Mom's visit she has been telling me over the phone that I should take advantage of the saltwater pool. Her mom, my Nana, along with every other grandma out there, had always touted the health benefits of salt or ocean water for your skin, hair, sores, etc.  My mother-in-law's mother says the same thing about going to the Jersey shore. "Breathe deep," she always says, "it will make whatever ails you go away." Somehow, I don't think it works as perfectly as either grandma likes to think, but research has shown them to be on the right track. Livestrong.com has several articles explaining the health benefits of swimming in seawater for the immune system, skin problems, as well as bronchitis and other respiratory issues.  Lance Armstrong's team is advocating a nice, long swim in the ocean, which perhaps I will work up to, but for now, I am going to take advantage of the saltwater pool right outside my patio door.

According to another website, planetgreen.com, having a saltwater pool is an eco-friendly option as well as a healthy one. This article talks more about how a saltwater pool works and its positive health and environmental benefits.

I never would have expected that having a pool would somehow play a role in my healing, but I am willing to entertain the idea right now. It has been three weeks since we've moved in here, and more than a month since leaving Pennsylvania with my last prescription for antibiotics, and I still cannot wake up without having to expectorate. I am diligently doing my nasal rinsing with the steroid add-in, using Sudafed or Afrin occasionally to assist with the clearing, and taking my vitamins and supplements, while also trying to rest and relax as much as possible. These things are helping to keep me stable, but so far, I have not been cured.

The other day while the kids were watching TV after several hours in the pool, I decided to get some exercise. This would normally be the time of day, back home, when I would lace up my sneakers and go for a run outside or on the treadmill, if Jon said he could keep an eye on the kids. Here, it's too hot to run outside other than first thing in the morning or later in the evening. Instead, I thought about my mom's advice (and her doctor's, as well; she walks regularly with her primary care doctor, who heard about our pool and agreed that it would be good for me to get in it as much as possible). I put on my goggles and hopped in the pool, sans nose plug.

I set out to do 5 laps of each of my strokes: freestyle, back stroke, and breast stroke. It took several sets of this circuit to get my breathing regulated, especially on the freestyle, which has always been my struggle. In the past, I would gag down so much air during the breathing that I would need to burp at the end of the lap! This time, I worked hard to use my nose as well as my mouth to inhale, and to slow down my breathing so that I didn't need to come up for air as much. After thirty minutes of this exercise, I felt great. It felt like a run, only better. My whole body had been worked, including my nose. See, I can run by just mouth-breathing. If I do that while swimming, I end up drinking the water. Swimming forced me to bring air through my nose, which those airways desperately need for recovery.

So I will now be adding swimming to my personal (self-prescribed) list of physical therapy activities. I will try to swim laps three times a week, and run just once, maybe twice. I am not quite ready to give up the feel of my sneakers on pavement, but I already see just how much more beneficial the swimming is to my respiratory system. I may even try it in the ocean one of these days. Close to shore, of course.

2 comments:

  1. LOVE IT! I have been a swimmer all my life and I am so glad you are finding joy in something that has brought so much joy in my life! Keep working at the healing my dear and your day will come! :) Loved reading this post! Love ya! Kate

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  2. Thanks, Kate! I'm glad you enjoyed reading about your favorite sport! Hopefully I can keep doing it (not feeling the energy lately).

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