I am 47years old and have returned to swimming as a fitness choice. I get 3 workouts of 2500yds/week and feel great. I also have an inground pool that my family enjoys in the summer months. My question relates to the long term consequences of chlorine exposure. Do studies exist that show whether swimmers have an increased health risk to cancers? Has anyone looked at pool chlorine exposure as a health risk in any way? The pools I swim in all use chlorine as a sanitizer and I would hate to think my exercise regimen may be doing me more harm than good!
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Ok a swimming doctor (family practitioner, not a super sub specialist or toxicologist)
I read over all the posts and searched some sites (like the CDC and FDA etc) for research on this.
Everything really focuses on chlorine gas as a respiratory irritant, with little research on long term, low level exposure. If you have asthma, this may cause you problems. However, let your doctor know and most likely your medicines can be adjusted to help prevent any asthma complications associated.
Some important things to remember. Chlorine is very reactive. It sure does cause some damage, but only very quickly and locally. Your body actually USES its own natural chloride ions in specific places to help manage things like mucous (especially in the respiratory system). There are 3 main sites I can think of that chlorine the swimming pools could theoretically cause some problems.
First is the eyes. Obvious: wear your goggles.
Next is the surface area of your body. Hair: makes it tougher, strawlike and funky. Use a conditioner or something like that to remove and or block chlorine; also a swim cap. Your skin can definitely be affected, but because of the cool way our skin is put together, it really should not be able to penetrate the skin and cause any damage internally. Thus, you CANNOT kill any beneficial bacteria internally this way. You can (and will) get a local skin irritation depending on length of time in the pool, other existing skin conditions (like eczema), etc. These can be minimized or prevented by showering before getting in the water (then the little microscopic areas of your skin are full of water with less chlorine than the pool already) and using a mild lotion after (not before, it will strip clean off) getting out of the water. Shower again, however, to replace the chlorinated water before lotion.
Sorry for the length of this.
Next is respiratory. I could not find any data on long term exposure to low level chlorine levels. However, there could in theory be a chance of causing damage to some of the supporting structure of the alveoli. I must hasten to add that one of the reasons I started swimming for fitness is that the healthiest old folks I see as patients are over represented as swimmers. These are 80+ year olds whose lungs sound awesome. So weak anecdotal evidence: I doubt it is a worry.
Finally (oops I lied I came up with 4 sites) is accidental swallowing. This would be my guess as to where the funky organic chlorine molecules came from in the study cited above. Ironically enough, chlorine itself would be unlikely to cause much problem in the stomach, and is going to get neutralized as soon as it hits the small intestine anyway. However, weird organic chlorine compounds could in theory survive some digestion. Don't think about this too much or you'll be scared to get any water in your mouth next time.
Oh yeah: cancer is unlikely a risk (although never impossible), because cancers really need to come from DNA damage, and chlorine has usually already reacted to your cell membranes, epidermis, etc and "burned itself out" before it could get close to your DNA. BUT: I couldn't find much research on this, so this is largely supposition.
Summary: Swimming is great and overall probably better for you than any other exercise, even when chlorine is involved. My opinion.
Ok a swimming doctor (family practitioner, not a super sub specialist or toxicologist)
I read over all the posts and searched some sites (like the CDC and FDA etc) for research on this.
Everything really focuses on chlorine gas as a respiratory irritant, with little research on long term, low level exposure. If you have asthma, this may cause you problems. However, let your doctor know and most likely your medicines can be adjusted to help prevent any asthma complications associated.
Some important things to remember. Chlorine is very reactive. It sure does cause some damage, but only very quickly and locally. Your body actually USES its own natural chloride ions in specific places to help manage things like mucous (especially in the respiratory system). There are 3 main sites I can think of that chlorine the swimming pools could theoretically cause some problems.
First is the eyes. Obvious: wear your goggles.
Next is the surface area of your body. Hair: makes it tougher, strawlike and funky. Use a conditioner or something like that to remove and or block chlorine; also a swim cap. Your skin can definitely be affected, but because of the cool way our skin is put together, it really should not be able to penetrate the skin and cause any damage internally. Thus, you CANNOT kill any beneficial bacteria internally this way. You can (and will) get a local skin irritation depending on length of time in the pool, other existing skin conditions (like eczema), etc. These can be minimized or prevented by showering before getting in the water (then the little microscopic areas of your skin are full of water with less chlorine than the pool already) and using a mild lotion after (not before, it will strip clean off) getting out of the water. Shower again, however, to replace the chlorinated water before lotion.
Sorry for the length of this.
Next is respiratory. I could not find any data on long term exposure to low level chlorine levels. However, there could in theory be a chance of causing damage to some of the supporting structure of the alveoli. I must hasten to add that one of the reasons I started swimming for fitness is that the healthiest old folks I see as patients are over represented as swimmers. These are 80+ year olds whose lungs sound awesome. So weak anecdotal evidence: I doubt it is a worry.
Finally (oops I lied I came up with 4 sites) is accidental swallowing. This would be my guess as to where the funky organic chlorine molecules came from in the study cited above. Ironically enough, chlorine itself would be unlikely to cause much problem in the stomach, and is going to get neutralized as soon as it hits the small intestine anyway. However, weird organic chlorine compounds could in theory survive some digestion. Don't think about this too much or you'll be scared to get any water in your mouth next time.
Oh yeah: cancer is unlikely a risk (although never impossible), because cancers really need to come from DNA damage, and chlorine has usually already reacted to your cell membranes, epidermis, etc and "burned itself out" before it could get close to your DNA. BUT: I couldn't find much research on this, so this is largely supposition.
Summary: Swimming is great and overall probably better for you than any other exercise, even when chlorine is involved. My opinion.
