Every type of exercise has its selling points. But swimming is unlike any other aerobic workout in a few important ways.

First, the fact that you’re submerged in water means your bones and muscles are somewhat unshackled from the constraints of gravity, says Hirofumi Tanaka, a professor of kinesiology and director of the Cardiovascular Aging Research Lab at the University of Texas.

This makes swimming the ideal exercise for people with osteoarthritis, for whom weight-bearing exercise can be excruciatingly painful. According to Tanaka’s research of people with the condition, swimming decreases arterial stiffness, a risk factor for heart trouble. More of his research has linked swim training with lower blood pressure among people with hypertension. The coolness and buoyancy of water are also appealing to people who are overweight or obese, for whom load-bearing aerobic exercises like running may be too hot or uncomfortable, Tanaka says.

But don’t be fooled; your body is working hard when you’re in the pool. Water is denser than air, so moving through H2O puts more external pressure on your limbs than out-of-water training, studies have shown. Even better, that pressure is uniformly distributed. It doesn’t collect in your knees, hips or the other places that bear most of the burden when you exercise with gravity sitting on your shoulders.

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Swimmers in an Olympic-sized pool could be surrounded by up to 50 gallons of urine, a new study has revealed.

Scientists used an artificial sweetener found in urine to measure how much pee is in swimming pool water.

They discovered the sweetener acesulfame potassium (ACE), is consistently present in urine, making it easy to monitor pool levels.

In tests they found a 91,500 gallon pool contained 5.8 gallons of urine and a 183,000 gallon pool, a third the size of an Olympic pool, was awash with around 17 gallons.

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When Mike McQuay Jr., an 18-year-old with autism, was growing up, the place he felt most safe and calm was in his parents’ backyard pool.

“We’d take him to the mall and he would get overloaded with sensory issues from all the fluorescent lights and crowds,” says his mom, Maria McQuay, 50. “But when he’d come home, going in the water really soothed him.”

Now a college freshman at Middlesex Community College in Edison, NJ, Mike’s swimming is more than calming exercise. He might soon be competing with neurotypical peers — those not on the autism spectrum — as part of Team USA. Depending on the success of his trials, he aims to swim at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Mike’s inspiring story is being told in the new documentary film “Swim Team,” showing as part of the ReelAbilities Film Festival, which celebrates people with disabilities and runs Thursday through Wednesday at JCC Manhattan.

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