Australian Study Links Early Swimming to Children's Academic Excellence

A recent scientific study conducted by researchers from Australia's Canberra University and published on the "Phys.org" website yesterday, Friday, revealed that teaching children to swim at an early age significantly contributes to enhancing their academic and social excellence, developing their mental skills, and its impact is not limited to improving physical fitness and ensuring water safety only.

The study results showed that practicing swimming before the age of five helps accelerate cognitive growth in children, enabling them to acquire reading, writing, and math skills with a gap ranging between 5 and 18 months compared to their peers of the same age, regardless of their economic and social backgrounds.

In the same context, Professor Robin Jorgensen, the lead researcher in the study, clarified that swimming lessons build skills and behaviors in children that can be directly transferred to the classroom, such as the ability to regulate emotions, understand number sequences through motor kicks, and follow teachers' instructions precisely.

The study pointed out a gap in benefiting from these advantages due to the high cost of swimming lessons globally, especially in countries such as the United States, China, and some African and Latin American countries, making them exclusive to affluent families and depriving children from rural, remote, and low-income communities of them, who simultaneously become the most vulnerable to drowning risks.

For his part, those in charge of the study called for supporting children's swimming education programs in early age stages, emphasizing that investment in this field is a wise step to reduce academic achievement gaps in schools and protect children and sustainably develop their social skills.

Sources added that these results confirm the importance of providing equal opportunities to access these vital skills for all segments of society, ensuring maximum benefit from the cognitive and social benefits associated with early swimming learning.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)