Swimming in deep water is something that you either love or are terrified of. In this blog, we go into detail on how to feel more comfortable swimming in deep water, the potential dangers, and why it’s important to know how to swim!
On the other hand, some people are terrified of this idea, so much so that Hollywood has used deep waters as a common horror trope.
First of all, swimming in deep water can mean two things. By deep waters you either are referring to the deep end of a swimming pool, or maybe you are talking about the sea or ocean.
Most of the time, swimming beginners have this wrong idea that deep waters are different from shallow ones. In their head, they are convinced that swimming differs based on the depth of water.
The Science of Swimming in Deep Water
To answer the question of whether swimming in deep water is different from swimming in a more shallow body of water, we need to view things from a scientific point of view.
The short answer is that there isn’t any difference between swimming in deep water and shallow water. Techniques of swimming will work the same way, regardless of the depth below you.
When it comes to swimming, from a physics point of view, swimming is a by-product of the Third Law of Motion. Funny enough it is this very law that enables rockets to go to the moon.
How to Learn Swimming in Deep Water?
Now that we have an understanding of what swimming in deep water actually is, and how it is the same as swimming anywhere else, let us try to explain how you can do it.
Start Small – Every time you have to do something new, it is always wise to start with the basics. If you cannot swim at all, we highly recommend you first get familiar with swimming. If you are somewhat of a swimmer and can perform certain techniques, it is never a bad idea to go back and do some sort of revision to your work. You need to nail the basics down perfectly, in order to move up to the more advanced levels.
Consider Lessons – No matter what you are trying to achieve it is always a great idea to get lessons from a professional. As we found out, there isn’t any difference between deep and shallow water (as far as swimming goes), so enrolling for some swimming lessons is your best alternative to learn any type of swimming you want.
Baby Steps – When swimming in deep waters, the danger of drowning related accidents increases significantly. You should never try deep water first. Instead start by perfecting your technique in swimming pools. This is especially important if you are just learning how to swim. The last thing you want is to have an accident happen to you. To prevent that, make sure that you are completely capable of swimming in areas where if anything were to happen, you can just stand.
Know What Works – Some techniques work better in deeper waters. We highly recommend that you try to learn paddling. That is one of the safest and easiest techniques for deep waters. There are other techniques that work, such as breaststrokes but most of them are fairly advanced and aren’t very beginner-friendly.
Overcoming Fear of Deep Waters
As we mentioned earlier deep waters have been used many times as a horror trope, making even people who didn’t fear them at first, scared.
Overcoming this fear is not going to be very easy. However, we can always use psychological remedies such as exposure therapy.
Again you shouldn’t bite more than you can chew. Start small and eventually work your way into losing the anxiety and fear of deep waters.
Another way of overcoming that fear is by perfecting your swimming skills. This will in turn increase your confidence in swimming, making you less afraid of water.
There is another sort of fear of deep waters. This one isn’t related to the water itself, but more about the things that may roam within it. Most of the time this is a fear of the sea and ocean.
This version of fear of deep waters can be harder to overcome. What you can do is understand that there will be nothing roaming within the deep end of a swimming pool.
Of course this is just general advice and if you are really struggling with fear and anxieties of this nature, you should definitely consider talking to a professional that can help in this regard.
In conclusion swimming in deep water isn’t as hard as people think it is, but regardless you should be very careful in your approach of learning it.
