The Top 10 Things That You Really Should Know About The Fear Of Water

By Jeff Krieger

Here are the top 10 things that you should really know about the fear of water:

1) Most scared swimmers do not experience a traumatic or near deadly aquatic experience that started their fear of water. Actually their fear is just as much a part of who they are as is the colour of their eyes.

2) Most scared swimmers do not know or are happy with the proper breathing cycle, "in through the mouth and out thru the nose" when they put their face in the water.

3) It is impractical to expect or assume that a fearful swimmer will be able to learn proper swim stroke technique until they have overcome their fear of water first.

4) Anybody, regardless of their age, fitness level or life experience can learn to beat their fear of water and learn the way to swim.

5) The emotional obstacles that

|

|scared swimmers have to understand, manage and overcome so as to feel comfortable, competent and safe in water can be unrelenting, very manipulative and overwhelming.

6) An individual's fear of water can be so powerful and their point of view so skewed, that even if they are put into the safest of marine environments, such as waist deep water and hanging onto the side of the pool, they feel as if their life is in peril.

7) Fear can forestall a person from thinking, feeling and behaving reasonably.

8) Fear of water doesn't necessarily prevent a person from buying a home with a pool, a ship or taking their family on a holiday that includes aquatic activities, nevertheless it does increase their risk for drowning or reduce their ability to rescue another swimmer in distress.

9) As the body ages and physical fitness becomes more urgent to a person's mental and emotional health, swimming and water aerobics become one of the least stressfull and most efficient and effective resources that they can use, unless they suffer with fear of water.

10) Fear can be a strong incentive, instead of a painful deterrent!!!

About the Author:

Aquatic Therapist, Jeff Krieger, the Founder and Director of the S.O.A.P. (Strategies Overcoming Aquatic Phobias) Program, has a BA in Psychology and a MA in Counseling. He has been an aquatic professional for over thirty years and is recognized as an innovator and expert in helping fearful swimmers overcome their fear of water.