How Does Swimming Affect the Skin?

There’s no doubt swimming is a fun, physically stimulating form of exercise. If you have a backyard pool, whether it’s a salt water pool or one that uses chlorine, don’t forget about your skin as you swim. San Diego Pools is here to tell you what this particular activity can do to your skin and how you can protect your body’s largest organ as you work your way through your laps and hone your form and technique.

How Swimming Can Be Bad for Your Skin

Swimming has the potential to be bad for your skin because of chlorine and other chemicals commonly used to kill bacteria and germs in pool water. These chemicals perform a necessary function, but they can also strip away protective oils in your skin. A reduction in natural oils can contribute to a number of skin-related issues, some of which include:

• Dry skin
• Sun damage due to a lack of protection provided by skin oils
• Itchiness and rashes
• Premature aging
• Acne caused by excess oil production triggered after skin oils are depleted by pool chemicals

How Swimming Can Be Good for Your Skin

Swimming also offers some potential benefits for your skin. Because swimming is a form of exercise, it can have a natural detoxifying effect that’s good for your skin. Also, the right amount of pool chemical exposure can minimize issues with bacteria on your skin that could contribute to acne.

How You Can Protect Your Skin as You Swim

Some precautionary measures can be taken to keep your skin healthy while still enjoying the many benefits of regular swimming. First off, start by using waterproof sunscreen. It will create a protective sun barrier for your skin that will also keep your skin from being affected by the chlorine in the water.

Further protect your skin as you swim by applying a pre-swimming balm or lotion about 15–20 minutes before you start swimming. The lotion will also help your skin absorb the sunscreen better to give you more of a protective barrier.

If you go to a public pool to swim, you’ll likely be required to take a quick shower first to keep the pool from getting a bit too dirty. Obviously, this isn’t a requirement if you swim in your own backyard pool, but it can still be a good thing to do, since it’s a good way to hydrate skin cells and reinforce the sunblock’s protective barrier.

Your skin will be healthier as you swim and when you get out of the pool if you take some additional steps. These include:

• Staying hydrated when you take swim breaks by keeping a reusable water bottle nearby
• Showering with warm water after you swim to open pores to cleanse them and switching to colder water to tighten them again
• Applying talcum powder after you dry off following your post-swim shower to absorb residual chlorine
• Keeping your swimwear clean so you don’t transfer lingering pool chemicals back to your skin

Taking these simple precautions can help you keep your skin healthy as you swim. If you’re looking for the perfect way to boost your physical fitness levels, a pool can be exactly what you need. As one of the premier San Diego pool companies for more than four decades, San Diego Pools can create a custom pool for you that offer a great way to exercise as well as a place to relax and get away from it all. Give us a call today at 888-707-7786.