Feeling Unwell after Swimming? Reasons and How to Beat the Sickness

Have you been feeling sick and dizzy after swimming? Of course, that is why you are reading this.

You could also be experiencing the same while you are swimming in the pool. Whether it happens when you are inside or outside the pool, you have a reason to worry. But not too much.

Sometimes, you feel lightheaded as you get out of the pool. If you have been swimming for some time and then this happens for the first time, you might feel alarmed.

Actually, some people experience serious bouts of dizziness such that they think of quitting swimming all the same.

Do not quit just yet, not before we find out the main causes of feeling lightheaded after swimming.

Keep reading!

8 reasons for feeling sick after a dip

The first thought on your mind will be to go to the hospital, but it is best to know what could be causing it.

Perhaps it is your vestibular system, or maybe you have blood pressure issues. There are several things to rule out first.

Here are the most common things that cause this feeling when or after swimming:

1. Sudden contact with cold water (vasoconstriction) and in the ears

You are a warm-blooded human being. Thus, when you take a sudden dip in cold water, you can never tell how your body is going to react for sure.

When your body gets into the cold water, your blood vessels can constrict (contract). This essentially means there will be less blood going to various parts of your body.

When you get out of the pool, your body gets warmer, and the blood vessels dilate (widen or expand), causing a rush of blood. This might make you feel slightly lightheaded as your body warms up.

Sometimes, the cold water might get to your eardrum and cause density changes in the fluid found in the semicircular canal part of your ears.

This sends the wrong signal to your brain, which causes spinning and dizziness.

2. You could be hungry

Believe it or not, swimming when you are hungry can cause you to feel dizziness after swimming. Swimming is an energy-intensive workout. Your body will need food material to burn.

Some people experience nausea when they eat in the morning. For other people, it is a case of nerves.

If you feel sick after swimming, there is only one way to find out whether eating is causing this.

Just eat!

You can start with something small, such as a banana or a protein bar. If you feel queasy from eating in the morning, wait for about 30 minutes before you swim.

If you don’t experience nausea on the day you eat, it means hunger is making you feel sick after swimming.

Another thing that might cause dizziness issues is swimming for a long time without hydrating. People mistakenly think that when you swim, you don’t sweat. You do!

If you are swimming in the ocean, ensure you carry a means to hydrate. Even triathlon athletes experience energy loss in the swimming stage of the competition because it is hard to refuel when in the water.

3. Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is a condition that occurs in people who move their heads rapidly when they are swimming.

To counter this, you might have to change your swimming stroke to one where you have to keep your head in a fixed position.

What happens with BPPV is that you disrupt your inner ear too suddenly with the sudden head movement.

What follows the sudden movement is the dislodging of the small crystals called otoconia, which help in keeping your balance. When this happens, you experience a spinning sensation.

Another cause of BPPV is trauma to the head. If you have experienced a serious head injury or if you get a hit to the head when in the swimming pool, you might experience this condition.

As you can see, many things could cause BPPV. If BPPV is the cause of your dizziness, symptoms (the dizziness) might persist long after you are out of the water.

Doctors can use the Epley maneuver to treat this condition.

4. Postural hypotension

Also known as orthostatic hypotension, this is a condition where there is a sudden drop in blood pressure as you rise from a laying-down position.

When you are done with swimming and you stand up at the handrails, the blood will rush to your lower limbs.

Many complex things happen in the body, including vasodilation. The result is that you end up feeling dizzy or lightheaded for a moment. This should not persist for too long after you get out of the pool.

In some cases, the dizziness spell can extend too much and cause fainting. If this happens, it is best to see a doctor.

5. When you wear a very tight swimming costume or wetsuit

If you are participating in a triathlon, you need to wear a wetsuit. It is very important that it be of the right size. If it is not, it can put pressure on the vagus arteries and nerves.

These supply oxygen to the brain, and if they are under pressure, they might not be able to do that as well as they should.

The vagus nerve does many things, and one of them is to slow the heart rate and lower the blood pressure.

If you put too much pressure on that nerve, it will not do all of these things. Therefore, you can pass out, experience shortness of breath, and have spells of dizziness.

While a loose wetsuit is also not good, you should find a snug-fitting one. A nicely fitting wetsuit also allows for easier movement of your limbs when swimming.

6. Panic attacks

If you have just learned how to swim and you are not very sure of your capability to swim alone without your instructor, you could panic when you get into the pool.

The buoyancy of the water can make an inexperienced swimmer panic. If this happens, you can experience shortness of breath, nausea, and other symptoms of panic attacks.

Panic attacks also happen to experienced swimmers taking part in a triathlon. You are so anxious about what lies ahead of you that you feel unsure of what you can do.

You can start hyperventilating, which also means losing too much carbon dioxide. This is going to upset your pH balance. You will experience lightheadedness.

7. If you eat too much food

This differs from one person to another. If you are the kind of person who experiences nausea when you engage in vigorous activity after eating too much food, do not swim after eating.

If you read our article on what not to do at a swimming pool, we said you should not drink alcohol and swim.

Drinking alcohol while you are going to swim is another reason why you could feel sick after swimming.

If you know that you cannot keep anything down well if you engage in heavy activity, just don’t do it. You can take a protein bar before swimming for energy, but avoid heavy meals.

8. Cervical vertigo

This is also called cervicogenic dizziness and you can tell whether you have it by the symptoms.

It manifests in the form of neck pain and dizziness. If you swim, keeping your head and neck in certain positions might cause you to aggravate cervical vertigo.

If this is why you have been feeling sickly and nauseous after you swim, you need to see a doctor.

It is caused by issues such as inflammation, joint problems, muscle injury, and general degeneration of your body due to age or disease.

How to avoid feeling sick after taking a swim

Now that we know some of the things that cause dizziness after swimming, we are going to see how you can avoid them.

Here are a few things to bear in mind:

1. Know what causes you to feel dizzy

This is the very first thing that you should find out. If you feel dizzy because you have a pre-existing condition, you need to have it treated. You can see a doctor so that they can tell you whether it is safe to swim in your state.

2. Know your swimming limits

If you overwork yourself in the pool, you can feel dizzy when you eventually get out. Know your limits and don’t exceed them.

Swimming is a labor-intensive exercise. When your body uses up all its fuel, you can feel dizzy. Keep within your limits. If you can only swim comfortably for 30 minutes, keep it at that.

3. Learn how to get out of the water in the right way

You can get orthostatic hypotension when you keep your legs inactive for too long.

When you lay down for too long, such as when floating on water, you can experience orthostatic hypotension as blood rushes to the legs when you suddenly rise up to get out of the pool.

Thus, swim slowly towards the exit, but kick your legs hard. This is going to reactivate blood flow.

4. Wear earplugs

If your dizziness comes after your ears get into contact with cold water, wear swimming earplugs. This will keep your eardrums safe from coming into contact with the cold water.

Today, you can even find swimming goggles to protect your eyes. If you do not want any part of your body to be in contact with the pool water, you can get protection for it.

The good thing is that today, due to advanced medical technology, you can swim with cochlear implant. Therefore, even with an ear condition, you can still wear your earplugs and swim.

5. Eat or don’t eat!

If you feel dizzy after swimming on an empty stomach, eat and rest for some time before you swim. This gives you enough fuel for your strength, and you can even swim longer and harder.

If eating food before you swim makes you feel sick after swimming, well, try swimming on an empty stomach or after taking a small snack.

Is it normal to feel dizzy after swimming?

It is normal, and if the spells of dizziness are minor, there is nothing to worry about. However, if you get dizzy to the point of fainting, you could be having an underlying issue.

You need to see a doctor. It is best to isolate the possible causes of your dizziness so that you can know what to do to avoid it.

Some people do not experience dizziness at all after swimming. This is okay, too. Warming up well, fueling, being confident, wearing the right wetsuit, and wearing earplugs can help you stop feeling dizzy after swimming.

Can chlorine in water make you dizzy?

We use chlorine in the pool to kill bacteria and other baddies that get in the water. However, it is used in human-safe quantities, so it really should not cause harm.

Exposure to chlorine causes dizziness, nausea, headaches, and vomiting. Prolonged exposure to chlorine will cause serious sickness, such as lung damage.

Therefore, when you swim in a chlorine pool, you can feel a bit nauseous, not all the time, but mostly after shocking the pool, and when there are high traces of chlorine.

If you are swimming with a cold, you don’t know how chlorine will make you react once you inhale it. Therefore, unless you experience too much dizziness, do not feel alarmed when you feel a bit sick after swimming.

Other things that might show you that you are reacting badly to chlorine include wheezing, sneezing, and running mucus.

Wrapping up

Feeling sick after swimming in the pool is almost normal. Well, it is something that many swimmers experience from time to time. However, it is better to not experience it at all.

It is important to know what causes you to feel this way so that you can prevent it. Also, if you feel really dizzy after a dip in a cold pool, do not swim alone.

Always have someone watching over you. You do not want to fall and hit your head on the deck when you are alone at the pool.