The health potential of water: in conversation with Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi
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SWIMMING POOL INDUSTRY VOICE
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi is a UK-based family doctor with a special interest in lifestyle medicine. He combines clinical practice with regular media appearances, including on the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, helping wider audiences understand health and physical activity. He is the Royal College of General Practitioners’ lifestyle and physical activity lead and a clinical adviser to Swim England. His work emphasises practical ways to help people become more active, addressing the barriers they face and making movement part of everyday life.
In your day-to-day work as a family doctor, what prompts you to suggest aquatic activity to a patient?
For a family doctor, aquatic activity is often one of the first options patients want to discuss when they need to become more active but face barriers to traditional forms of exercise. I might suggest it for people living with obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, persistent pain, mental health challenges, or those who have found activities such as running difficult because of symptoms, injury or low confidence. I generally let the patient take the lead and share what they would enjoy most and then explore from there. Swimming combines aerobic exercise, strength work and enjoyment, while the buoyancy of water reduces stress on joints and makes movement feel more achievable for many people. Regular physical activity is strongly associated with improved physical and mental health outcomes, and swimming can be an accessible route into this for a wide range of people.
What tends to stand between that recommendation and a patient swimming regularly?
The biggest barriers are rarely medical the medical conditions themselves. Pain, cost, transport, pool availability, time pressures, confidence in the water, concerns about body image, cultural factors, and simply not knowing where or how to start are often more important than the health condition itself. For some people with long-term conditions or disabilities, practical issues such as changing facilities, support with access, or uncertainty about whether swimming is safe can also be significant obstacles. Many patients need social support and encouragement as much as they need information.
What would make it easier for doctors to recommend swimming with confidence?
Healthcare professionals need easy access to trusted, evidence-based resources that explain who swimming may benefit, how people can get started safely, and what local opportunities are available. Clear signposting pathways, condition-specific information, and confidence that pools are welcoming to people with different health needs would help considerably. Clinicians are often working under time pressure, so simple referral pathways and high-quality patient resources can make a real difference. Swim England’s Poolfinder and Water Wellbeing accreditation are fantastic in this regard.
How could healthcare professionals and the pool industry work together to encourage swimming?
The greatest opportunity lies in building stronger community links. Healthcare teams could routinely signpost people to swimming opportunities, while pools could develop further tailored programmes for people living with long-term conditions, beginners, older adults and those returning to activity after illness. Jointly developed resources, staff training, social prescribing pathways and community swim groups could create a much smoother route from a healthcare conversation to regular participation. The most successful approaches are likely to focus on helping people feel confident, supported and connected rather than simply telling them to exercise.
From a healthcare perspective, what would you most like pool designers, builders, equipment manufacturers and operators to do differently?
I would encourage the sector to think about inclusion and confidence as much as infrastructure. Accessible changing facilities, pool lifts, warm-water options, dementia-friendly sessions, clear information about what to expect, and staff trained to support people with health conditions can make the difference between someone attending once and becoming a regular swimmer. We should design pools around the needs of the least active and most vulnerable members of society. If someone with chronic pain, obesity, anxiety, disability or a long-term condition feels welcomed and supported, we are far more likely to realise swimming's potential as a powerful tool for improving population health.
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