Swimming activities are excellent forms of physical activity and it holds a lot of health benefits needed for a healthy life. But instead of re-energizing you, swimming can become a great source of health problems for you.
Not everyone has a swimming pool in their house. Then it becomes a thing of satisfying our need elsewhere, so we resort to go swimming at public pools.
According to this article article by YouGov, research has it that, over 17% of adults admit to peeing in a swimming pool when swimming, 47% admit not showering before entering the pool, and the most disgusting, 14% admit to passionately kissing while in pools - how on earth!.
Apart from the obvious dangers associated with swimming, and all that, there is a growing frequency in the health safety and management of the pool water people swim in.
THE SUPERBUG THINGY
A variety of microorganisms can be found in swimming pools and similar recreational water environments, due to the unhealthy behaviour of pool users.
These microbes are introduced through human sweat (people who have refused to shower before jumping in), fecal contamination (from accidental human release - formed stool or diarrhoea and animals e.g birds flying by).
The risk of illness or infection has been linked to fecal contamination of the water (in most cases). Other contributing sources of these microbes include vomit, mucus or saliva.
There's close to a zero percent chance that you will avoid body contact with other swimmers. Most times, you'll find people coming out of the pool with some ailment they didn't go in with (e.g eye redness/irritation).
YOU SAY, "BUT THE POOL IS TREATED. . ."
This is now the more dangerous part. In yet another research, frequent pool visits can result in long-term chronic illnesses due to continuous exposure to disinfectants.
Although the utilization of disinfectants is used to promote healthy swimming, the chemical agents can react with organic and inorganic material in the water to form disinfectant byproducts (DBPs).
Poor practice of pool compliances, such as the lack of maintaining appropriate disinfectant and pH levels, will make swimmers (especially kids) sick.
WHAT'S MORE DANGEROUS?
According to this article article by Environmental Health News, peeing in swimming pools may be hazardous to your health.
Scientists have found that compounds in urine mix with chlorine to form chemicals that have been linked to respiratory effects in swimmers.
In a series of laboratory experiments, the scientists combined water collected from swimming pools in China with mixtures meant to mimic the chemical composition of sweat and urine. Chlorine, used to disinfect pools, reacts with a number of chemicals found in human sweat and urine.
Uric acid, found in urine (and a little in sweat), accounted for 24 to 68 percent (depending on temperature, water pH and chlorine condition) of the byproduct cyanogen and trichloramine (3 - 4%), in pool water.
Previous studies have found that urea, another urine compound, converts readily to trichloramine.
Cyanogen chloride can affect multiple organs, including the lungs, heart, and central nervous system via inhalation. Exposure to trichloramine at pools has been linked to reduced lung function in adult swimmers, and itchy eyes, runny nose and voice loss in lifeguards.
It is advised that moderate swimming time be maintained, may be 20 to 30 minutes of swimming (each time you go out swimming), will help reduce the risk of contracting public pools-related diseases. #StayHealthy.
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