This blog post is painful for me to write because I have been an avid swimmer since the age of 5, when I took the water wings off and made it to the other side of the pool on my own. As I wrote in my post 10 Things I Do to Beat Depression Every Day, swimming has been one of my most powerful weapons against the ever-suffocating energy of depression. Exercise, in general, is one of the best ways you can naturally boost your mood. In a study led by James A. Blumenthal, Ph.D., a professor of medical psychology at Duke University in Durham, N.C. it was reported that three sessions of vigorous exercise were approximately as effective as daily doses of Zoloft, when the treatment effects were measured after four months. Swimming is particularly effective as a mood stabilizer because of the combination of stroke mechanics, breathing, and repetitiveness. It’s a whole-body meditation in motion.
However, for those of us with unhealthy guts—with bacteria overgrowth or imbalances in our microbiome—spending an hour or more in a chlorinated pool a few times a week is one of the worst things we can do for our mental health.
I was so happy when we had a pool built on our property..The daily swimming took 12-15 pounds off me every year for 4 years..I was in great shape.
But after 4 years I lost most of my eyebrows, all arm and leg hair. Depression hit me full on
and intense, debilitating pain finally was diagnosed as fibromyalgia.
I have a suspicion that the chemicals in the pool harmed my health.
Oh my. I’m so sorry to hear that. I can relate to the story, though. I hope you find healing.
I stopped swimming because of chlorine and depression, things got a lot better. I told myself it could not be the chlorine so started swimming again. Three week later I started to feel anxious and depressed, so have stopped swimming again. I do hope it passes soon.