Learning how to swim early helps children to develop many skills and excel in studies, a new study says.
For the study, lead researcher Professor Robyn Jorgensen and colleagues from the Griffith Institute for Educational Research interviewed parents of 7000 children aged below five, from U.S., Australia and New Zealand. Another 180 children below five were included for intensive testing.
At the end of the analysis, they found learning to swim early helped children perform many academic tasks easily when they entered pre-school or school.
"Many of these skills are those that help young children into the transition into formal learning contexts such as pre-school or school," Jorgensen said in a news release.
"The research also found significant differences between the swimming cohort and non-swimmers regardless of socio-economic background. While the two higher socio-economic groups performed better than the lower two in testing, the four SES groups all performed better than the normal population."
The young children who regularly engaged in swimming were found to have better visual-motor skills (coloring, drawing lines or shapes), better oral expression in literacy /numeracy and performed better in math related tasks.
"Many of these skills are highly valuable in other learning environments and will be of considerable benefit for young children as they transition into pre-schools and school," Jorgensen said.
Benefits of learning swimming early and engaging in regular swimming activities are known from a long time. According to experts, swimming also helps children with learning disabilities and autism. It is effective in reducing anxiety and managing frustrations and anger.
"Swimming lessons exercise the left and right sides of the brain. They are said to increase concentration, alertness and even problem-solving skills. Hand-eye co-ordination is developed and the cardio-vascular system is improved," Tanya Fryer, a swimming instructor told Child Magazine.
