Swimming News and Research

RSS

Early diagnosis and treatment help teenager overcome rare epilepsy

Christopher Sepúlveda was just 2 years old when his parents noticed something was wrong. Christopher began experiencing involuntary movements of his mouth and eyes, and episodes when he would freeze and not move for nearly two minutes- something their pediatrician at the time said could be a tic disorder.

6 Nov 2026

Swimming lessons may boost children's learning and social development

With family budgets stretched ever-tighter, swimming lessons can be one of the first expenses to be cut back – but with research showing swimming helps children not just physically but developmentally, researchers are calling for greater government support.

29 Oct 2026

$8.2 million grant advances on-demand male contraceptive development

Weill Cornell Medicine has received a four-year, $8.2 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to develop and test an experimental on-demand male contraceptive pill that temporarily stops sperm in their tracks

22 Oct 2026

FDA grants accelerated approval to groundbreaking rectal cancer immunotherapy

A groundbreaking immunotherapy treatment for rectal cancer, developed through pioneering research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) with critical early-stage funding from Swim Across America, has received accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

22 Oct 2026

What you did last week may be the strongest clue to how much you'll exercise this week

Researchers analyzing exercise records from 5.17 million Strava users across 65 countries found that recent exercise history was the strongest predictor of whether individuals would meet a weekly physical activity threshold during the COVID-19 pandemic. Physical activity patterns varied considerably across regions, with greater disruption in many middle-income countries and better adherence associated with greater access to outdoor exercise facilities.

18 Oct 2026

Exercise may reshape your gut microbiome to support recovery

Research reveals how exercise alters gut microbes, influencing recovery and proposing 'intestinal rehabilitation' for those with limited exercise capacity.

29 Sep 2026

Beetroot juice may make swimming feel easier without making swimmers faster

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 12 studies, with nine contributing data from 120 swimmers, found no significant improvement in swimming time-trial performance or post-exercise blood lactate with beetroot juice or dietary nitrate supplementation. Supplementation produced a small reduction in perceived exertion, but the effect varied across studies, and the certainty of evidence for swimming performance was low.

24 Sep 2026

Year-round sun protection helps prevent skin cancer and aging

Sun safety is always in season. It's important to protect your skin from sun damage throughout the year, no matter what the weather.

10 Sep 2026

Strength training shows no added arrhythmia risk in people with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy

People living with arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a heritable heart condition that can significantly increase risks for sudden cardiac death, are advised to avoid high-intensity aerobic exercise.

10 Sep 2026

Stay sharp after menopause: How aerobic exercise can improve key thinking skills

Regular aerobic exercise – the kind that gets your heart pumping – can improve important thinking skills called executive functions, and the benefits appear especially strong for women after menopause, according to Rutgers researchers.

2 Sep 2026

Early baby swimming linked to a small IQ advantage by preschool age

A prospective cohort study of 1,935 mother-child pairs examined whether baby swimming during the first 6 months of life was associated with IQ and cognitive performance at ages 4 to 6 years. Swimming participation was associated with modestly higher scores across several cognitive domains, but the researchers cautioned that the observational findings cannot establish causation and may partly reflect socioeconomic and family-level differences.

1 Sep 2026

Aerobic exercise boosts executive function in postmenopausal women

31 Aug 2026

Freshwater swimming linked to doubled risk of skin problems and stomach bugs

People swimming in rivers and lakes could be putting themselves at risk of nasty skin conditions and stomach bugs, according to a new study from the University of East Anglia.

27 Aug 2026

New lensless imaging method captures clearer images of moving objects

With the rapid development of smartphones, wearable devices, and portable medical diagnostic systems, increasingly stringent requirements have been placed on imaging systems: they are expected to provide clear images while remaining sufficiently compact and lightweight.

24 Aug 2026

Leisure-time exercise linked to lower dementia risk

For years, scientists have known that regular physical activity can help lower the risk of dementia. But new USC research suggests that it's not only the amount but also the activity's context - for work or for leisure - that makes a difference.

18 Aug 2026

Swimming sends wrist-worn heart rate monitors off track

Researchers created an open-access dataset comparing two wrist-worn heart rate monitors with a chest-strap reference during dry-land exercise and swimming. Both smartwatches performed substantially worse underwater, highlighting the challenges water poses to optical heart rate monitoring and providing a resource for future research on aquatic wearables.

12 Aug 2026

Blood filtration method helps clear circulating lipids and toxic microplastics

The machine is not new. Some version of it has run in hospital treatment rooms for about four decades, drawing blood from one arm, separating out the plasma, passing it across a filter or an adsorber, and returning it to the other arm.

4 Aug 2026

Study reveals widening inequality in leisure-time physical activity

A ten-year study of residents of the city of São Paulo, Brazil, revealed that leisure-time physical activity is highly unequal and that the gap between social strata is widening.

30 Jul 2026

Two microscopic parasites cause widespread diarrheal illness across America

You've seen the alarming headlines about parasites causing "explosive diarrhea" across the U.S. Two microscopic parasites – cyclospora cayetanensis and cryptosporidium – can both cause prolonged gastrointestinal illness, including watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, and dehydration.

24 Jul 2026

WHO launches PROTECT package to reduce global drowning deaths

Ahead of World Drowning Prevention Day on 25 July, the World Health Organization (WHO) is launching a new technical package to help governments and communities implement seven proven measures to reduce drowning deaths.

24 Jul 2026