Why swimming is great for brain health as well as the body, especially as we get older

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This is the 65th instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope.

My mother taught me to swim in a pool that was going green with algae. My memory of the day is much clearer than the water was. She urged me to leap from the side into her arms – and I did.

She thought I ought to know how to swim, even though she herself hated it.

I – like my maternal grandmother, who swam regularly into her eighties – grew to love it. Ever since I learned how, I have sought out places in which to swim, from pools to lakes and the sea.

The writer as a child in a swimming pool with her maternal grandmother, who still swam regularly into her eighties. Photo: Anthea Rowan

People often ask why I love swimming. “You just go up and down,” they say as I swim 50 lengths of a pool. Or, “Isn’t it cold?”

It often is, but I keep swimming, and not just for the exhilaration that comes with exercise or just to keep physically fit. Swimming always seems to help me sort out my thoughts. My best ideas come while I swim.