Woman explains why you should always cross your arms while going down a waterslide

If you're reading this, I'd guess that at some point in your life you've participated in the enjoyable pastime known as going down a waterslide.

For the uninitiated, it's basically like falling down a long, squiggly tube and into a pool at the other end, but significantly more fun than I've just made it sound.

Before going down you'll have to make sure you agree to a bunch of safety rules and there's often someone standing at the top to tell you to cross your arms as you go down.

Anyone familiar with the waterslide will know that crossing your arms over yourself like an Egyptian mummy will give you an extra boost of speed but a woman has explained why it's so important.

Elyse Meyers explained that during her first experience with a waterpark she decided to tackle the big slides because her older brothers were going on them and she wanted to show she could too.

"Sit down, cross your legs, hold any contraband items in your hand, cross your arms over your chest and do not uncross your limbs at any point in the ride until you're completely done sliding," were the instructions waterpark staff were telling everyone when she got to the top.

This left her wondering whether anything had ever gone badly wrong enough to make these instructions necessary and she soon found out why.

Don't worry, she doesn't lose an arm or anything.

No, instead she discovered that she was actually having a great time on the waterslide, but when she got to the end of the ride she saw someone she knew waiting at the bottom and uncrossed her limbs to wave to them.

This turned out to be a mistake for Elyse, who was soon to learn why you keep your arms and legs crossed when hurtling down a plastic tube at high speeds into a pool of water.

She said: "The force with which you are meeting a still body of water, it's explosive, and when your body is not properly tucked that water only has a few places it can go.

"So follow the directions all the way."

Crossing your arms keeps them safe from catching on anything and suffering injury while also helping you to go faster and have a more graceful landing in the splash pool at the end.

If speed and excitement aren't your things with waterslides then you could always give the stand-up waterslide a go.