How do you tread water for longer without panicking?

Treading water looks like a party trick until you need it: in the deep end, waiting for a friend to swim over, or floating in the sea while you look at the coast. The good news is that it is a skill, not a talent, and the main skill is not to fight the water.

Start with your hands: sculling

Sculling is a small, steady sweeping movement of the hands just below the surface, out and in, with the palms angled so they press the water gently down. Think of smoothing sand flat, or spreading butter on a very large slice of bread.

• Keep the movements small and continuous, not big and splashy.
• Keep your hands roughly at chest level, a little away from the body.
• Let your elbows bend softly.

Sculling alone keeps many people up for a surprisingly long time, and it is worth practising before you add the legs.

Then the legs: eggbeater or breaststroke kick

There are several ways to kick:

• Gentle breaststroke kick. Familiar to most people, easy to learn, but it tends to make you bob up and down.
• Scissor kick. One leg forward, one back, sweeping together. Relaxed and steady, good for short spells.
• Eggbeater. Each leg circles in turn, like a breaststroke kick done one leg at a time, so one leg is always pushing. US Masters Swimming notes in a piece on synchronised swimming skills that eggbeater is the way synchronised swimmers tread water, and that its consistency means swimmers do not bob up and down.

The eggbeater takes a while to coordinate. Practise sitting on the pool edge with your legs in the water, circling one foot at a time, then both in turn. Then hold the wall in the deep end and try it there before letting go.

The calm part

Panic is what makes treading water tiring. You start kicking hard, your breathing quickens, you try to lift your shoulders out of the water, and the water wins. Instead:

• Stay low. Let the water come up to your chin. Every extra centimetre you lift costs effort.
• Breathe slowly and on purpose. Long breath out, steady breath in.
• Lean back a touch. A slightly reclined position takes less effort than standing bolt upright.
• Count. Count your breaths or kicks. Counting gives the mind a job.
• Know your exit. In a pool, know where the wall is. Outdoors, never rely on treading water as your plan.

When to stop treading and float

Floating on your back is the resting position. If you get into difficulty in open water, the Royal Life Saving Society UK advises its Float to Live approach: stop thrashing, roll onto your back, lean back, get your breathing under control and then work out how to get out. Your legs may sink a little; that is fine.

Practise that float in a pool, with a lifeguard on duty, so it is familiar long before you might need it. Open water brings cold, currents and waves; follow local rules and lifeguards, and swim with others.

How to get better at it

• Practise in the deep end of a lifeguarded pool, near the wall, in short spells.
• Try a minute of sculling only, then a minute of kicking only, with arms crossed on your chest.
• Swap kicks when one set of muscles tires.
• Join a lesson or adult improvers' session, where a teacher can watch your kick and fix it in minutes.