Swimming for Depression During Perimenopause: How Water Exercise Can Help
Depression during perimenopause is common. Learn how swimming and water exercise can lift mood, reduce anxiety, and support mental wellbeing.
Depression in Perimenopause: What Is Actually Happening
Depression during perimenopause is far more common than most women expect. Research suggests that women are two to four times more likely to experience a first episode of major depression during perimenopause than at other points in their lives. This is not simply stress or a bad patch. Falling and fluctuating oestrogen levels directly affect serotonin and dopamine pathways in the brain, the same systems that regulate mood, motivation, and emotional resilience. As hormone levels swing unpredictably, many women find themselves feeling flat, tearful, hopeless, or detached in ways that feel quite different from ordinary sadness. Poor sleep, hot flashes at night, and physical fatigue compound the problem. Understanding that this is a physiological shift, not a personal failing, is the first step toward addressing it.
Why Swimming Is Particularly Well Suited to Perimenopausal Depression
Swimming combines several mood-lifting mechanisms in a single activity. The rhythmic, repetitive nature of strokes has a meditative quality that quiets the mental chatter many depressed women describe. Water provides a sensory experience that is naturally calming, reducing cortisol levels measurably after even a short session. Cold or cool water swimming in particular activates the sympathetic nervous system in a controlled way, prompting a flood of endorphins and noradrenaline that can produce a significant and lasting mood lift. Warm pool exercise, by contrast, soothes muscle tension and encourages parasympathetic recovery. Beyond the biochemistry, swimming is non-weight-bearing, making it accessible when joint pain or fatigue make land-based exercise feel impossible. It is also a genuinely immersive activity, difficult to do while scrolling through a phone, which forces a form of present-moment focus that supports mental health in its own right.
Specific Techniques and Approaches Worth Trying
If you are new to swimming for mood, start with 20 to 30 minutes of continuous low-intensity freestyle or breaststroke, two to three times per week. The goal at first is consistency and enjoyment, not speed or fitness targets. Breaststroke is particularly useful because the head-up position and slower pace allow for steady breathing and a gentler cardiovascular load. If lane swimming feels overwhelming, water aerobics classes offer a social dimension that itself has antidepressant effects, with the added benefit of instructor-led structure removing the need to plan your own session. For those drawn to open water, even brief cool water immersion in a supervised setting has been shown in case studies and small trials to produce rapid and sustained mood improvements. Whatever format you choose, aim to swim at a pace where you can maintain a conversation, keeping the session aerobic without becoming anaerobic stress.
What the Research Says
A growing body of evidence links regular aquatic exercise to improved depression outcomes. A 2016 study published in the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education found that women who participated in water aerobics three times weekly over 12 weeks reported significant reductions in depression and anxiety scores compared to a sedentary control group. Broader exercise research consistently shows that aerobic exercise produces antidepressant effects comparable to low-dose antidepressants in mild to moderate depression, with the benefits being additive when combined with medication. Specific to perimenopause, exercise is now recommended as a first-line intervention for mood disturbance by several major menopause guidelines, including those from the British Menopause Society. Swimming fulfils the aerobic criteria while adding the unique sensory and social benefits of aquatic environments. It is also associated with lower rates of exercise dropout compared to gym-based training, which matters enormously when depression itself erodes motivation.
Getting Started When You Are Already Feeling Low
Depression makes starting anything harder. The key is reducing friction as much as possible. Choose a pool that is close to home or work, not the nicest one across town. Pack your swim bag the night before and leave it by the door. Commit to arriving at the pool, not to completing a full session. On difficult days, even 10 minutes in the water is a genuine win. If motivation collapses in the morning, try scheduling a lunchtime or early evening slot. Some women find it helps to recruit a swimming companion, turning the session into a social commitment that is harder to cancel. Water-based exercise classes with a regular cohort can serve the same function. If you are also working with a GP or mental health professional on your depression, let them know you are adding swimming to your routine. Exercise is a complement to clinical care, not a replacement for it when depression is significant.
Tracking Patterns to Understand What Works for You
Mood in perimenopause does not shift in a straight line. Some weeks will feel much harder than others, and understanding the relationship between your exercise activity, your cycle phase, and your mood requires consistent observation over time. The PeriPlan app lets you log workouts and track symptoms like low mood, fatigue, and motivation alongside your activity patterns, helping you see connections that are difficult to spot day to day. Over several weeks, you may notice that swimming three times in a week correlates with fewer low mood days, or that skipping exercise for five or more days tends to precede a dip. This kind of pattern data is also genuinely useful to share with a GP or gynaecologist, providing objective evidence of what is and is not working rather than relying on uncertain memory.
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