Hello, swimming is fun.
I agree!  Humans can hold their breath and are able to do a form of swimming at a few weeks old!
I've seen several videos of babies swimming, do you think that's safe?
It's an evolutionary response, so yes.  The human body also has a natural buoyancy which helps
I suppose it would help them in the long run.  Is there a real health benefit to swimming?
Many people swim for exercise.  It's beneficial for older people and for rehab because it is low-impact compared to land activities
I agree, it's definitely a low impact "sport."  Are there benefits of swimming in rivers or lakes as opposed to a swimming pool?
Swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs, the body, or both. Humans can hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as a survival response.
Swimming is consistently among the top public recreational activities, and in some countries, swimming lessons are a compulsory part of the educational curriculum. As a formalized sport, swimming features in a range of
will reflexively hold their breath when submerged to protect their airway and are able to survive immersion in water for short periods of time. Infants can also be taken to swimming lessons. Although this may be done to reduce their risk of drowning, the effects on drowning risk are not reliable.
It is extremely important to note that while babies can imitate swimming motions and reflexes, they are not yet physically capable of swimming.
Infant swimming or diving reflex.
Most human babies demonstrate an innate swimming or diving reflex from