When it is still dark outside, frost covers the ground and the air temperature is a mere 2C, I get on my bike to reach Tooting Bec Lido. I strip down to my swimming costume and slowly descend the stairs to immerse myself into the cold waters of the unheated outdoor pool. Across the country and even across the globes, there are hundreds of thousands doing the same, in pools, rivers, lakes or in the ocean.
Who would voluntary swim into waters as cold as 2C/35F when your whole body screams to get out, only to emerge a few minutes later with the biggest smile on their face? Surely they must be nuts?
It’s all about the mind
One of the reasons I started to cold water swimming this winter was try something different. There was some thing appealing to me about the mental challenge of swimming in cold water and being able to train your mind to settle into freezing water instead of following its natural reflex to get the hell out there as soon as possible.
This is different from any sport or endurance challenge. Cold water swimming is purely about getting to know your body, understand how it works and believing that controlling your mind makes you stronger.
The risks are real and should not be underestimated. Hypothermia kills and and cold water swimming should be considered as an extreme sport, where preparation, safety and monitoring are crucial (see advice at the end of the article). It’s about learning to differentiate discomfort and putting your body in danger. I have found the subject fascinating and cold water swimming has brought me a brand new understanding of how the body (and the mind) works.
Fighting the winter blues
The best way to start cold water swimming is just to start in the summer or autumn and to keep swimming. By exposing your body to water getting gradually colder and colder, you take the safe approach and let your body acclimatise. It is recommended to dip (the word “swim” seems to be overkilled for distances of just a few hundreds yards/meters and times of just a few minutes) as often as possible, frequency being more important than duration. Some days are definitely more difficult than others, and listening to your body is key.
Soon, it shapes as your very own winter ritual: a bike ride at dawn, a cold dip for a few minutes, a hot drink, the sauna… that you repeat week after week, or day after day. I like how you notice the change of the seasons, even in such an urban environment as the Tooting Bec Lido where I swim in London. In cold water you senses are like sharpen: you pay attention to the changing colours of the trees, the amount of leaves in the pool, the frost, the light or Bernie the resident duck floating around!
As the days get shorter and the temperatures drop, it is sometimes difficult to find the motivation to do anything. In spring, summer and autumn, I like to keep myself busy with various sports activities but usually struggle with the winter. Cold water swimming has given me a purpose through winter, something to tick off every week and made me come at peace with the darkness and the cold.
The new natural high
Let’s be honest, even with proper acclimatisation it still doesn’t feel warm when you are expose yourself to water below 5C. You quickly loose feeling of your finger tips and toes and you can feel blood retrieving to your vitals organs. After a couple of minutes, you start to relax, the shock is passed. It doesn’t make it any more comfortable but you get to focus on the swim a little bit more. At this time you are fully in the moment. You don’t think about the pile of tasks waiting at work, about the arguments with your partner and the previous day. You are just fully there, listening to your body and the sensations. It is an intense but pure feeling that I haven’t really experienced anywhere else.
Before you get too cold (some swear by keeping on eye on the watch, with the rule of 1min per celsius degree), you exit the water with a big grin on your face. Cold water releases endorphins, the “happy hormones” and makes you feel invincible. Science still tries to understand the full benefits of cold water swimming on the mind and the body but participants in the activity are unanimous on it giving an instant “natural high” but also on its more durable benefits on mental health to fight anxiety or depression.
There is a catch though: the dreaded “after drop”, which actually makes you feel colder around 10min after getting out, once all the cold blood has circulated back to the vital organs. Making sure you are fully recovered is just as important as staying safe in the water. But after a few dips you have now perfected your warm-up routine: drying yourself quickly, drinking some hot beverage or enjoying the sauna (what a luxury!). Top that with a big warm breakfast (full English 😉 for example) and I can guarantee that you will then be ready to get on with whatever the rest of the day throws at you with an unbreakable smile on your face.
Join a group of like minded nutters
There may be another reason why cold water swimming has just a positive impact on people. CWS (as insiders call it) is not about competition, or bragging times. The ones that stay little are actually praised for being cautious and reasonable and everybody gets out of the water with the same (slightly frozen) smile.
I love that cold water swimming is not an elitist sport (some are even reluctant to call it a sport) -you just need a swimsuit!-, it is a physical activity where participants don’t take themselves too seriously. Part of many cold water championships include a “best hat” competition were the swimmers get to showcase their creativity and craft skills. The sport is full of these quirky initiatives, such as the International Institute for Swim Cake study or the Polar Bear Challenge which I joined to keep myself motivated. What started as an initiative from a local swimming club in Devon is now spamming across countries with swimmers from Denmark, Germany, USA or Canada thanks to the wonders of social media. Just seeing people posting pictures of their swims around the world has brighten up my winter!
It is not recommended to swim alone (for obvious safety reasons), and all around the UK outdoor swimming clubs gather people of all ages, all courses of life and all body shapes – though there is still a lot to do regarding ethnical diversity for cold water swimming. I enjoy swimming at Tooting Bec Lido, along side people who have done it every day for decades or with newbie , and there is always some interesting discussion going on in the sauna giving you this little extra sense of belonging (and it still makes me laugh that members themselves disagree of how the word “lido” should be pronounced!).
Cold water swimming is a lot about community and joining a group of like minded people, which people are craving at an age where we are ironically more isolated than ever, and that’s maybe why the “sport” is growing so rapidly.
So yes, people who do swim in cold water may be a bit nuts. But join the cold water swimming club and, you will quickly realise that these nutters actually hold one of the secret of simple happiness.
If you are interested about giving cold water swimming a try, I recommend reading these articles:
