Swim Yourself Happy Challenge
Survey Results

Swim Yourself Happy was a virtual challenge that took place over 4 months, from 1st November 2020 to 28th February 2021. The challenge was an experiment to see how swimming can benefit general well being and mental health. During the challenge we raised £580 for mental heath charities Mind and Samaritans.

183 people took part in the challenge. Participants choose how regularly they would swim, where they would swim (indoors or outdoors) and swam for as long as they wanted to. We asked every participant to fill in a swim log in which they recorded their swim details and rated their ‘Happiness Score’ out of 10 before and after their swims.

When the challenge finished participants we asked to complete a survey, logging their results. 73 participants completed the survey. The following graphics illustrate some of our findings…

Summary

In Summary it’s very clear to see that the majority of people that took part in the challenge and completed the survey, found huge benefits to their general well being and mental health through swimming. Of course this result was not unexpected (and our non-scientific experiment was not conclusive due to it’s limited range of subjects) but it is still really interesting to see the figures represented in graphics like this.

Swimming is a great way to exercise, but we now know it can be as good for your mind as it is for your body! Getting in water will improve your mood, reduce your stress, and generally help you to unwind and feel happier!

Swimming has significantly reduced the symptoms of anxiety or depression for 1.4 million adults in the UK. Almost half a million British adults with mental health problems have stated that the number of visits to a medical professional regarding their mental health has reduced as a result of swimming! (YouGov poll commissioned by Swim England (2018)). Making positive change can seem really hard, especially during difficult times, but regular swimming is definitely worth a try!…

The Swim Yourself Happy Club

The Swim Yourself Happy Club was the result of the positive community of swimmers that came together to take part in our Virtual Swim Yourself Happy Challenge. During the challenge we set up a Facebook community for the participants which has become a really lovely, friendly and positive group. The group is now open, and FREE,  for other swimmers to join us in the Swim Yourself Happy Club, so please do head on over and jump in!