Indoor swimming pools help promote health and fitness year-round. Full-facility aquatics centers offer group water aerobic classes and physical therapy in addition to recreational and lap swimming. Indoor facilities sometimes feature dedicated diving pools, with platform diving structures. Some universities and colleges allow the public to use indoor swimming facilities on a limited basis.
History
The Victorian British were the first after the ancient Romans to champion indoor swimming. They focused on the salubrious effects of bathing year-round, according to Simon Inglis and Ian Gordon in their book, "Great Lengths: The Historic Indoor Swimming Pools of Britain." The first British indoor pools opened in coastal resort destinations and featured saltwater baths enclosed and covered in large open structures. The town of Brookline, Massachusetts, built the first indoor municipal pool in the United States. Completed in 1897, the natorium featured indoor lighting and heating, plus a dedicated women's hair-drying room, complete with state-of-the-art hair dryer machines, according to Greer Harwicke, author of "Brookline: Images of America."
Benefits
In cold winter areas, indoor pools allow people to swim all year. Some northern countries, such as Iceland, have many outdoor pools, but the geothermal energy there that makes heating the pools affordable is not widely available in the United States. In making swimming a year-round option, indoor swimming pools promote public health; older citizens benefit from exercising without straining painful joints. Young children learn to swim before the summer, potentially avoiding drowning accidents, and users benefit from the social interaction typically found in indoor aquatics facilities.
Types
Modern indoors pools are usually 25 meters (82 feet) or 50 meters (164 feet) long. Recreational or multipurpose pools feature shallow and deep ends. The shallow ends of the pools often are only 3 to 4 feet deep and are not safe for diving entries. The deeper ends of the pools are often 6 to 8 feet in depth. Dedicated lap pools that are uniformly 6 feet deep minimize drag from water turbulence stirred up by swimmers. Some indoor facilities feature separate deep diving pools and therapy pools kept at warmer temperatures.
Residential indoor pools are expensive to build and tend to be small. The recent introduction of small resistance pools stirred interest among serious lap swimmers. Also called infinite pools, these roughly 20-foot-long swim basins feature motors that create a current against which the user swims.
Considerations
Indoor pools sometimes present health issues, such as exercise-induced asthma or skin rashes, caused in part by exposure to accumulated chemicals in the water and air. Some pools have better ventilation systems than others, so those suffering breathing difficulties might find another indoor pool more tolerable. Outdoor pools are a good option in summer months, or year-round in mild climates. Swimming-pool memberships can be expensive, particularly for private facilities, but municipal pools often offer senior and student discounts.
Warning
Just because a pool is indoors does not mean that swimming during a thunder and lightening storm is safe. According to the National Lightning Safety Institute, swimmers risk electrocution during storms. Being inside does not provide protection. Water around the pool deck or in shower rooms also is a potential hazard for patrons. For this reason, many indoor pools close when weather reports predict storms.
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