Float Until You Gloat
Personal Perspective: Swimming for health is terribly underrated.
Updated May 17, 2026 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma
Nobody warned me that turning 75 this year would feel less like a milestone and more like a dare. Way back in my 60s, I made a pact with myself: Keep moving, walk upright, and don't give up my pumps. So far, so good, even though I am a throwback when it comes to shoes.
I am one of the lucky ones whose Medicare supplement plan pays for me to belong to a gorgeous health club with pickleball courts, a complete exercise floor and yoga studios, a beauty spa, GTX classes, and both indoor and outdoor pools.
Until now, I had used all of the above amenities, all except the pools. You see, I am not a joiner. Just not in my DNA , I guess. I wasn't signing up for aquatics classes with the other aging chicks or people recovering from surgery. I am also not keen on showing off my thighs anymore. But I do miss swimming. Outdoor swimming. When I did swim at a much younger age, I swam laps. Not competitively, because I’m not built for speed; endurance is another thing entirely.
After three years of longingly looking at the expansive lap pool's crystalline beauty surrounded by California palms, I made a decision. Buy a swimsuit I didn't have to prepare to wear, and get over it. I went straight to Amazon, keyed in "boy leg swimsuits," picked out one that hit just above my knees, and zipped up the front—like an Olympian at practice—I was good to go. Now, three times a week, I do what I call the "dive and 45"—45 solid minutes of laps, any stroke that suits me. And for the first time in my life, I feel endorphins — the glow that stays with you and has your body thanking you for a while.
Here's what I've come to believe: lap swimming may be the single most underrated thing a person over 65 can do for themselves. I mean that in a “why didn't anyone sit me down and explain this sooner” kind of way.
Honestly, your joints don't care how unmotivated you are. We may be managing knees that make interesting sounds, hips with opinions, and a lower back that remembers every bad move we ever made rearranging living room furniture on our own.
Water is your ultimate friend. Buoyancy takes roughly 90 percent of your body weight out of the equation, which means you can actually move—freely, fully, without bracing yourself. Doctors and physical therapists have known this forever, of course, but somehow the message gets buried under ads for compression socks and insoles for plantar fasciitis.
Different strokes for different folks? I'll be honest: I tried to be a freestyle person. Freestyle may be faster, but the breaststroke is a laster, and I'm not going to appear in a Nike commercial anyway.
Breaststroke is the thinking person's stroke. You pull, you glide, and you breathe like a human being with your face pointing in the right direction. Pull, kick, glide. It's just me, the lane line, and the mercy of water. I feel like Dory in Finding Nemo .
Let's talk about the actual science without it smacking of a wellness brochure. Unless you get into the water to frolic around, sustained, rhythmic lap swimming increases blood flow to the brain and supports the production of BDNF, which researchers sometimes call "Miracle-Gro for the brain." Studies on older adults consistently show improvements in memory , attention , and processing speed in people who swim regularly. If studies don't do anything for you, notice how you feel after 30 minutes in the pool versus 30 minutes of looking at inane reels of puppies and baby elephants on your phone, even if they do make you smile.
While I still can't match that unbelievable 80-year-old two lanes over, I show up, I do my laps, and somewhere around the fourth length, I zone out and stop thinking about everything I should be worried about.
That alone is worth the trip. Dory was right. "Swim! Just keep swimming!"
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Dena Kouremetis is a freelance writer, author, and professional blogger with a lot to say about life after 55.
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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.