Off Topic: Don’t Take Up Swimming

I took it up in early October. About a month ago, I developed a bad cough, and which I just took to be “cough due to cold.” I curtailed many activities, including swimming. The other day, I felt better enough to try swimming again. Yesterday, not long after my swim I had a horrible runny nose, and I became suspicious. So, I did some Internet searching, and it turns out that breathing a lot of chlorinated air is not good for you. Or at least not for me.

16 thoughts on “Off Topic: Don’t Take Up Swimming

  1. It is bad in general and increases health risks like cancer. I would not have known this either except for a recent move to Florida in an area where the public drinking water is still chlorinated rather than ozone being used. Just showering here without proper filters is bad for your health. I don’t know if this is an option where you live, but down here there are salt water pools and to a lesser extent pools that use ozone.

  2. May I ask how often you were swimming? I grew up a swimmer, and still swim once a week in a chlorinated indoor pool.

    • I was swimming 4 times a week when I first got symptoms. Then I laid off. I swam once last week and once yesterday, and the symptoms came back. It seems as though some people are really allergic, and apparently I am one of them.

      • Thanks. I grew up a swimmer, and I still swim once a week in an indoor, chlorinated pool. I know that there are drawbacks to chlorinated pools, and the air occasionally bothers me, but I’m certainly not allergic.

        Oh, by the way, you’re in Montgomery County, right? I was there around Thanksgiving, and swam a couple of times at the Kennedy-Shriver Aquatic Center. I noticed that its chlorine level seemed higher than what I’m used to.

      • If it’s a public pool you are swimming in, it may be overchlorinated. But a stronger possibility is that you are actually reacting to some of the secondary compounds that are formed as the chlorine breaks down — I’m thinking of chloramines, mostly. These are more common in pools that are heavily used and/or where not everyone is immaculate in their cleanliness or behavior (think suspended organic matter in the water).

  3. That’s actually good to know, because I considered taking up swimming after developing tendonitis in my ankle from too much running/biking, but I already have a problem where my nose starts running any time the temperature drops below ~40 degrees; adding chlorine into the mix probably wouldn’t help matters.

  4. If you decide to give it another try, I recommend getting a thermal shirt in case the water is too cold at your pool. Also, if you haven’t already done so, you should try a nose clip. This will make breathing a bit easier and reduce the amount of water that flows into your sinus cavity.

    • From my reading, it is not necessarily the water itself causing the problem. The air close to the surface of the water, which one necessarily breathes when swimming, is the source of the problem. So I do not think that the nose clip would deal with the problem.

  5. I’m not a fitness swimmer but I’ve dabbled a couple of times. What’s the general feeling about salt water pools? I found them easier on my eyes, but I honestly don’t know if they’re better or worse than chlorine pools

  6. I would second Marris’ suggestion- a nose clip. It might not help, but getting chlorinated water in my sinuses was also once a problem when I was still pool-swimming regularly, and the nose clip solved it for me- it might for you, too, Arnold.

  7. This should mainly be a problem with communal swimming pools, which are notoriously over-chlorinated. Backyard pools, not so much — can be very conservative with the chlorine.

  8. Glad you are feeling better, Arnold!

    It seems like most swimmers end up in very good health. So maybe don’t generalize too fast. Then again, there are lots of other ways to exercise.

    Regarding salt-water pools, be aware they are still chlorinated. What makes them special is that they get their chlorine from an electronic “chlorine generator” that breaks down the salt (NaCl) into a couple of chlorine compound (the Cl part).

    There are many pros and cons, and some people just like having all that salt on their skin. The engineer in me loves the fancy electronic chlorine generator, but is suspicious about such a complicated and fallible system for such a simple problem.

  9. I swam in high school and still swim three times a week. If you can, try a different pool. When people pee in pools (or do not shower beforehand and bring some nitrogen-containing wastes with them) the chlorine reacts to produce chloramines. These compounds are responsible for that indoor pool smell and also are associated with respiratory problems. Again, pick a different pool. If you still have problems, try an outdoor pool come summertime. (Or, you might just be very sensitive to chlorine or a chlorine compound and are out of luck.)

  10. Agree with others that switching pools might help. The pool at GMU used to use different chemicals and had been air quality than other Northern VA pools. Not sure if that’s still the case.

  11. Any saltwater pools in your area?

    I must say I seemed to get my worst sinus infections after swimming in late summer. I always assumed it was because the water was nice and dirty by then, even with treatment. I never thought about the chlorine being the culprit.

Comments are closed.