swimming and fear of not breathing

November 26, 2018 1:10 PM

I am interested in lap swimming for fitness, but I am scared of rhythmic breathing.

I took swim lessons as a kid and remember some things, but in my middle-age I've become panicked in situations when I feel that I can't fully breathe. For example, when I'm wrestling with my kid and he is on my head, when I get dental work done and they have to cover part of my mouth, and I can't have a blanket over my head (like when my kid wants to surprise someone by hiding under a blanket with me).

I can't seem to do anything other than a backstroke without getting nervous. Just wondering if there are other (cheaper) options to learn about this?

posted by retrofitted to Health & Fitness (22 answers total)

Can you swim with a snorkel? It's unusual in a pool, but not unheard of and it gives you more freedom to breath without having to keep up a rhythm.

Also, you can practice rhythmic breathing without actually swimming if that will let you build up the feeling of security. You can breath in and out and keep time with a count while sitting on your couch. Then do it sitting in a pool with your face out of the water. Then in a pool, stand on the bottom and just put your face in the water while bending over, so that whenever you want your face out of the water you can simply stand up, instead of having to reorient yourself within a stroke.

I was nervous about snorkeling the first time, and this somewhat mirrors advice I got from a friendly stranger on the same snorkeling tour. It really helped -- I just tried breathing through the snorkel on land, while standing in the water, while standing in the water with my face in the water, etc. Once I realized I could cope with it well in all those situations all I had to do was let my feet float and I was snorkeling.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:20 PM on November 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

When I do lap swimming for fitness (and not racing), I literally only exhale in the water. By the time I'm wanting to breathe in again, my mouth and nose are out of the water again. There's no holding my breath. There's no sensation of not being able to breathe freely. You could try to learn this by transitioning with breaststroke. It's possible to swim breaststroke with your head out of the water the whole time. Then, slowly transition to occasionally putting your head in just to exhale and lifting it out of the water to inhale so that you get used to the rhythm.

It's really only in racing that you'd want to train to hold your head under water for longer periods, and that's not your goal, so no need to worry about having to hold your breath. Think of it as just exhaling in the water and maybe you can slowly learn to exhale more in the water and then you'll be very close to finding the rhythm that feels like uninterrupted, unrestricted breathing.
posted by quince at 1:23 PM on November 26, 2018 [12 favorites]

It is possible to swim an approximation all of the major strokes (with the exception of butterfly) without submerging the face and head. "Heads-up" strokes are not as efficient as swimming with rhythmic breathing, but it can get you across the pool for sure. Backstroke, as you mentioned, and sidestroke, of course. Breaststroke is pretty easily done without sticking your face in the water between breaths. And decades ago in lifeguard training we were taught a heads-up version of freestyle (crawl) so that you can keep your eyes on the person you're trying to rescue while you swim out to them.

It may not be considered the proper way to swim these strokes, and may not have as much fitness benefit, but it will get you in the water to see if lap swimming is a good fit for you, and then you can slowly work up to putting your face in the water from there.
posted by rekrap at 1:24 PM on November 26, 2018 [9 favorites]

Absolutely swim with a snorkel. I do it, and it removes the fear from the equation and lets you focus on the swimming.
posted by pdb at 1:27 PM on November 26, 2018

Came here to say what rekrap did. I swam laps for years with a modified doggie-paddle. Yes, it's less efficient but it's still damn good exercise.
posted by spamloaf at 1:34 PM on November 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yes, try a swim snorkel. They are shaped slightly differently than a normal snorkel for longer comfort.
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 1:34 PM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have many of the same panic triggers as you, and swimming with a snorkel has totally worked for me. I swam with a regular old facemask/side snorkel over the summer. Then I recently tried to switch to a swim snorkel. But I couldn't use it without a nose clip, and then I had trouble finding one of those that would stay put, so now I am back to what I was using before. Which actually, is easier to grab and go with than three individual pieces of equipment.
posted by kimdog at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2018

it's less efficient but it's still damn good exercise. For cardiovascular exercise, the only thing that matters is how fast your heart is beating. If you are less efficient but going slower, you can adjust your pace so that it puts exactly the same demands on your heart and provides exactly the same cardiovascular benefits.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Less efficient generally means you expend more, not less, energy doing it. Pretty sure any stroke keeping your head above water is very good exercise while you work out your troubles with rhythmic breathing.
posted by love2potato at 1:39 PM on November 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

Good advice here for avoiding the breathing issue while swimming. Also, if this fear is affecting other parts of your life beyond that (dental work, playing with your kids, etc), I believe the best way to tackle it is through exposure therapy. The main goal here is to experience the situation in a controlled manner so that you can teach yourself to override the panic response. So maybe set a goal to keep your head under a blanket for 3 seconds. If you feel panicky, slow your breathing, take deep breaths, and notice that you are not, in fact, suffocating. Remove the blanket. Try again. It may take a while to get to the point where you can sit under a blanket for an extended period and still control your panic response. Be patient. Once you can train yourself to interrupt the panic response, you can hopefully use that skill to avoid panicking in other similar situations.

I used to have similar issues, which resolved when I learned to calm myself down and focus on the fact that I can, in fact, breathe. It also helped to learn to hold my breath for 30 seconds out of the water before doing so while in the water. FWIW I still don't like it when people sit on my head.
posted by ananci at 1:51 PM on November 26, 2018 [4 favorites]

Flutterboards are great for keeping your head out, and they'll still give you a good workout.
posted by Capt. Renault at 2:03 PM on November 26, 2018 [6 favorites]

Swimming laps was a large part of my summer childhood despite the fact that I was always terrified of diving and never felt fully comfortable with rhythmic breathing.

My lap of choice was breast stroke. Mostly because I cannot swim in a straight line, so backstroke was a disaster, and Elementary backstroke is leisurely enough it doesn't really count.

It's easy enough to keep your head completely above water. Breathe in when you bob upwards, and over time you can practice letting your face get a bit lower under water. First just your chin. Then maybe your lips.

And flutterboards are a good suggestion. My one caveat is that it's easy to use them as a floatation device, which could undercut your workout. So be aware if you have a tendency to backslide into easy outs. (Not that I know anything about that.)
posted by politikitty at 2:38 PM on November 26, 2018

I swim breast stroke with a swim snorkel and nose clip. The snorkel lets me fully enjoy being a fish in water, not some mammal worried about breathing. Also holding my head above water while swimming more than a short distance hurts my neck.
posted by apex_ at 3:24 PM on November 26, 2018

There are also full-face snorkels (Tribord being the original) which are great for a lot of reasons that might be good for you, but also potentially dangerous. You don't have to learn to breathe through your mouth, you just breathe in and out normally. Visibility is excellent. However you should be aware that there is a lot more air space in the full-face models, so hyperventilating can lead to a lack of air ingress. Taking deep breaths is the key.
posted by wnissen at 3:53 PM on November 26, 2018

By all means, get a snorkel. There are ones specifically tailored to lap swimming - the snorkel goes straight up the centerline of your face so it doesn't get knocked around when you push off the wall. (some are even shaped to keep them centered.)

Part of learning to swim well is learning to breathe. Even if you used to swim as a kid. If you look at the "swim smooth" book, they have a whole section on just...breathing out gently in the water while standing low in the shallow end (or holding on to the edge of the deep end).

If you work into it gently, you'll be able to develop some comfort with the idea. Stress on the "gently".

One other thing - practice holding a full breath on dry land. Practice taking a very deep breath, and letting it out slowly. Practice exhaling *everything*, then a little more (you will wheeze). Finally practice exhaling everything, then holding that, just a little. Just a tiny little.
posted by notsnot at 4:03 PM on November 26, 2018

can you breaststroke? it's the best stroke for easy breathing, and you can maintain good form.
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:03 PM on November 26, 2018

Can you take a class? Professional swim instructors have dealt with people who panic under water and have ways to help you relax. My own instructor had us practice by standing under the shower head at home, letting the water spray right in our faces and breathing anyway. It was helpful for me. I used to only do freestyle with my head above water, which hurt my back, but I was too panicked about accidentally breathing in. 4 classes and 1 year later, I accidentally breathed in tonight while swimming, calmly blew it all back out of my nose, and kept going, no change to my pace. (It hadn’t made it to my lungs, obviously.) It’s amazing where continued exposure and practice can get you.
posted by greermahoney at 5:46 PM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]

Sidestroke is also a possibility, but it's less of a workout (by design).
posted by Capt. Renault at 7:15 PM on November 26, 2018

I firmly believe you should take private lessons, and get some help with your anxiety. I firmly believe you should NOT swim with a snorkel without doing those things.

You might be fine with the snorkel, but if you happen to lose it while swimming, you might panic, and that could be dangerous.

(This summer, my city had TWO very sad incidents of people drowning in shallow water - in pools, sober, they just didn’t know how to swim and panicked - and they probably wouldn’t have met this unfortunate end if they’d had at least a medium-average level of competence. Best to be prepared just in case, right???)

(Are you sure this is a psychological thing, though? Maybe you’re actually short of breath for some physical reason - are you often tired? Ever short of breath with minimal activity? Any issues with sleep apnea? - and your brain is rightly telling you to fear getting even less air.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 9:21 PM on November 26, 2018 [2 favorites]

I always swim breaststroke with head/face out of the water and have never had issues with related neck/shoulder aches, even when I was fast lap swimming for an hour several times a week. Sometimes get a bit of water splashed into my mouth but never anything that made me feel like I couldn't easily breathe. Worth a try?

In terms of your general anxiety around being unable to breathe I'd second ananci's recommendation of exposure therapy - you could have a go on your own (there are lots of anxiety workbooks around with advice on exposure therapy) or if you find it too overwhelming you could try with a therapist.
posted by amerrydance at 2:18 AM on November 27, 2018

Drowning is one of my biggest fears - I have very severe asthma and I have literally almost died because I couldn't breathe.

But I love to lap swim! So I did exposure therapy (with a therapist) and hired a swim instructor. I took lessons at the YMCA and we spent WEEKS just in the shallow end practicing blowing bubbles properly, or what my instructor called "practicing fundamental skills." It's hard to be a beginner as an adult, but sometimes it really is worth going back to basics and working on those underlying skills.

My feeling on the snorkel is that it might help you swim more comfortably, but it will not help you avoid drowning if you find yourself in water unexpectedly, or have forgotten it at home, or dropped your snorkel at the bottom of the pool. It will also not help you play in blanket forts or get your teeth cleaned. Dealing with the root problem will help you be more resilient and flexible in all situations.

Incidentally, I also learned rhythmic breathing from my voice teacher. Singers must time their breathing to the phrasing of the song, and often gasp between measures, and there is a way to learn to control your breathing so you can do this with elegance and confidence. So if you like to sing maybe you should hire a voice teacher as well:)
posted by epanalepsis at 6:30 AM on November 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Counterintuitive, but if you're swimming with goggles, maybe try without? I run a lot, and when I started trying to learn proper front crawl, wearing goggles, my brain would be looking at the bottom of the pool thinking "I can see, therefore I can breathe! Look at all that light, breathe away, little lungs!" so I constantly felt like I was in danger of doing a massive great inhale while my face was submerged, and getting a lungful of water.

My runner's brain struggled to adjust to the idea that it couldn't breathe whenever it wanted. But there's something about battening down the (eye) hatches as I go under, that makes me also remember to shut up my lungs at the same time.
posted by penguin pie at 9:11 AM on November 27, 2018