recuperation
Delivering the keynote address to the World Aquatic Health Conference in September 2008, Dr. Steven N. Blair asked a simple question: Does swimming reduce your risk of dying? As he stressed then and repeats in detail here, the answer is a resounding yes. Indeed, the findings he offers stand among the most compelling reasons ever offered to promote swimming and other forms of aquatic exercise to the general public. Medical science has long seen exercise as a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle. In fact, there’s an enormous amount of evidence about its health benefits – so much that the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services recently stepped up with its first-ever guidelines for physical activity. Lots of individuals, organizations and other entities have proclaimed the positive outcomes of exercise through the years, but never before had the U.S. government published an official set of guidelines. These government recommendations were largely the result of
If you’ve ever spent time in the hospital, you’re probably like me in having done your best to forget the experience. Not only were you recovering from some sort of serious injury or illness (or visiting a loved one who was), but you also had to endure the process in an environment that wasn’t quite hospitable. Most likely the room you or your loved one occupied was filled by an adjustable bed surrounded by beeping instruments. The walls were putty-white and scuffed, a couple of cellblock-like doors led to the bathroom and hallway – and a worn-out television hung questionably above the bed, threatening to
