Purpose
There are many reasons why people swim, from swimming as a recreational pursuit to swimming as a necessary part of a job or other activity. Some people may also be forced in to swimming involuntarily as a result of falling into water.
The largest reason for people swimming is as a recreation activity, with swimming consistently ranking as one of the physical activities people are most likely to take part in. Recreational swimming can be used for people to exercise, to relax or to rehabilitate. The support of the water, and the reduction in impact, makes swimming accessible for people who are unable to undertake activities such as running.
Swimming is primarily an aerobic exercise due to the long exercise time, requiring a constant oxygen supply to the muscles, except for short sprints where the muscles work anaerobically. As with most aerobic exercise, swimming is believed to reduce the harmful effects of stress. Swimming can also improve posture.
Read more about this topic: Human Swimming
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“the Omnibus
Had no real purpose till it got to us.
Never believe it.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Language, the machine of the poet, is best fitted for his purpose in its rudest state. Nations, like individuals, first perceive, and then abstract. They advance from particular images to general terms. Hence the vocabulary of an enlightened society is philosophical, that of a half-civilised people is poetical.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)
“I have always felt that the real purpose of government is to enhance the lives of people and that a leader can best do that by restraining government in most cases instead of enlarging it at every opportunity.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)