As is well known, water is vital for human survival, but not only its consumption is the cause of all the benefits it brings us. And it is that swimming is a fundamental complement to trigger both physical and mental improvements.
This practice has always been part of our history, because far from sports activity, mastering water has been the great challenge pursued by ancient civilizations. For example, in Greece and Rome swimming was part of military training and also granted a social distinction among the rest of the population. For the Egyptians, swimming was part of education. In fact, these reflected the importance of the knowledge of the therapeutic properties of water in its ancient hieroglyphs.
However, all this changed when, during the Middle Ages , the thought spread in Europe that water was the main carrier of disease and that even the mere introduction into it could transmit epidemics.
It was not until the end of the 18th century when it was instituted as a competitive sport . The first such organization was born in Great Britain in 1837 under the name of the National Swimming Society . From this moment on, different groups were created, such as the Metropolitan Swimming Clubs Association, which later became known as the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA). In 1908 , with a representation of 8 federations of different nationalities , the International Swimming Federation (FINA) was founded. His work consisted basically in the regularization of this sport and in the periodic organization of events and competitions that are still in force today.
Since then, swimming has grown as a professional sport as well as a healthy lifestyle activity. The physical benefits of swimming are evident in athletes, what we call “swimmer’s body”. However, there is one characteristic that most swimmers (both professional and amateur) possess that we cannot appreciate at a glance: brain health . In this gallery, we review the most outstanding ones.
