Vitamin Sea

The Science Behind Cold Water Swimming | by Fiona Drummond

I started Cold Water Sea Swimming by accident really, after a well-travelled expat life growing up in and on much warmer waters. It was a traumatic accident with my son in 2015 that brought about the completely new dimension of choosing to immerse myself in cold water. As a mother of three under 5, I found myself living a brutal daily cycle amid a high-stress situation between hospital and school runs, with home being only a place to either sleep or wallow in despair. Amid this dark and lonely chapter, I felt an overwhelming desire to be submerged daily in the sea, on my doorstep, and thus my relationship with the cold water began. I began to swim out of instinct and necessity, to wash away, override and grow through a life rut. The immediate uplifting benefits of this new found icy immersion were undeniable. They became my lifeline, and a mental health reset for me personally, and therefore my family. I can credit cold water swimming as being one of the most important factors in helping me move on and through trauma. In addition, it is now a wellness tool and personal fitness hack that I couldn’t imagine living without.

Running Cold Water Sea Swim groups this January at Cadland has given me the opportunity to share my learnings, and to watch others take brave steps to achieve and then enjoy what they assumed was not possible or within them.

Euphoric, invigorated, exhilarated, alive, peaceful…these are the words used by my first group to describe how they felt after their first swim. The words are truthfully indicative of how transformative this simple act is to anyone who tries it. The group’s response when asked about their next swim? “Excited. I can’t wait”.

The Science Behind the Cold

After a few years of cold sea swimming, just floating about and enjoying the washed away feeling without thinking it over too much, I began to dig deeper into the science. I wanted to learn and understand how my breathing had changed and what the cold was doing for my body, my overall health and my mental state. I have discovered there is absolutely no other re-set like it. The below body and mind positive steps bring you towards an ‘Oxygentated Cellular State’ that taking yourself to the cold enables:

OPENING the body

USING the body

AWAKENING of major organs in your body

PUSHING the body

Feeling ALIVE in your body

Lifting up your defence system by enabling your body to REACT

It All Starts With the Breath

When you breathe deeply, more oxygen is absorbed into the bloodstream, which is circulated to all the cells in the body. That includes the muscle cells your body and major organs are using to manage the cold swim. If you don’t breathe deeply, you can’t let it GO. ‘ ‘Letting Go’ is the ultimate inner body peace and requirement for optimal overall health. Breathing deeply creates Oxygenation of the cells, which basically cleanses your body at a cellular level, thus enabling a re-set and wipe clean to every inch of your system and physically alters that state of each individual cell at a bio-chemical level. Think of it as Control, Alt, Delete…. completely uncompromised in its process in addition to forcing the mind to ignore any thought other than survival at a primal level. This in itself is relaxing. For your mind to only concentrate on a single thing is such a rarity. Even if that thought is about survival, and how your organs and neurological system are reacting to the freezing sensations of cold.

Breathing in deeply, then breathing OUT deeply creates calm and control, and ‘Letting Go’ via the breath enables cellular change during the process. It is widely assumed that breathing in and holding a breath in your lungs is how to take a deep breath, but it is the opposite, breathing out and expelling air from the lungs that forces the oxygen to reach your extremities. Reaching deep inside the body via the cold, which stimulates your vascular system, cleansing and reactivating the pathways that run your entire body and mind, is a pure and wondrous process. It is an almost out of body euphoria and elation as once in the water, you pass over the fear of the cold, controlling your mind through the breath. You will transition into a state of noticing sensations rather than feeling them, able to watch and experience your own body from a birds-eye view… this is then followed by actual pleasure…TRUTH!

Witness it, rather than fear it. Keep on breathing. Deeply. Keep on noticing. Concentrating on maintaining the breath rhythm creates a cycle that focuses the mind to control the body and override your thoughts. Deep breathe before you go in and then keep on making long, deep breaths when immersed, creating mental control over the body shock and initial quick short breathing reactions. Controlling your breath throughout means that the body and mind do not panic. They overcome and re-stabilise. Then you can relax! And marvel at how easy it is to stay in the water, almost so pleasurable it gets harder to get out than it was to get in!

Your body is forced to react to changing conditions, the mechanism of which can be transferred and help you to react better to stress of any kind. Over time, your body becomes better at activating its defences, and cold water swimming activates endorphins, releasing the chemical produced by the brain to make us feel good during activities.….

Stress: Why Does Cold Water Help?

We all live with low-level repetitive stress. At an animalistic level, we should experience short sharp near-death stress. Instead, we carry our stress around continually, holding onto it every day, and in the upper chest, keeping hormones trapped in anxious state. We also hold it at a cellular level. Unless we purge stress from the body, it will remain trapped and fluttering within our nervous system. Going into the cold forces the stress out, by enabling a healthy reset to our Fight or Flight system.  

1. It boosts your immune system

The effects of cold water on the immune system have been studied widely. Coldwater helps to boost the white blood cell count because the body is forced to react to changing conditions. Over time, your body becomes better at activating its defences.

Brown fat, also called brown adipose tissue, is a special type of body fat that is activated when you get cold. Brown fat produces heat to help maintain your body temperature in cold conditions.

Brown fat contains many more mitochondria than white fat. These mitochondria are the "engines" in brown fat that burn calories to produce heat. In addition, exercise may stimulate hormones that activate brown fat.

2. It gives you a natural high

Coldwater swimming activates endorphins. This chemical is what the brain produces to make us feel good during activity. Coldwater swimming is also a form of exercise, and exercise has been proven to treat depression. Coldwater swimming brings us close to the pain barrier. Endorphins are released when we’re in pain, to help us cope with it.

3. It improves your circulation

Coldwater swimming flushes your veins, arteries, and capillaries. It forces blood to the surface and helps to warm our extremities. Repeated exposure adapts us to the cold and improves our circulation.

4. It increases your libido

Yeeepppp. A dip in some cold water boosts oestrogen and testosterone production, adding an edge to fertility and libido. The benefits of increased libido include more confidence, higher self-esteem, and enhanced mood.

5. It burns calories

The heart has to pump faster in cold water and the body must work harder to keep everything warm while swimming. Overall, far more calories are burned during cold water swimming than swimming in warmer conditions. The idea that drinking cold water increases the number of calories you burn may be a myth, but it is a fact that cold water decreases your body temperature so much that the body must act.

6. It reduces stress

Coldwater swimming places stress on the body physically and mentally. Many studies have identified the link between cold water and stress reduction. Cold water swimmers become calmer and more relaxed…

7. It is a great way of socialising and making unique friendships

There is a great sense of community and camaraderie amongst cold water swimmers. There is nothing that brings people together like facing a challenge and sharing the experience as a group. Remember, Never swim alone, and always time your swims.

Coldwater Swimming is Exhilarating. Brave. Empowering. Creates Mental Clarity. Enables A Natural High… Facing your fear and or pain is an incredible way to feel alive.

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