• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Cold Water Swimming Is All The Rage But Is It Actually Good For You?

September 27, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

Have you got friends that like to take a refreshing (well more like freezing) dip in the ocean on Boxing Day? Or are you one of those people yourself? Well, you might be on to something: taking a dip in cold water may reduce the risk of disorders like diabetes and may cut body fat in men, according to a new review.

Cold-water bathing and swimming have become popular hobbies in recent years. This increase in popularity also comes with many anecdotal benefits from the people who partake in this pastime – including health benefits and increased libido.

Advertisement

In a recent paper, researchers investigated 104 studies that highlighted any effects of cold-water swimming. The team excluded studies where water temperatures were greater than 20°C (68°F), participants wore wet suits, or cold-water immersion was accidental. The studies that were included looked at a range of topics, such as the immune system, oxidative stress, adipose tissue, inflammation, and blood circulation.

Typically, during the initial cold water immersion, the human body will experience a triggered shock response, resulting in an elevated heart rate. There are conflicting views from different studies on the cardiovascular benefits, some suggested that people who partake in the hobby have reduced cardiovascular risk factors. While some studies indicate that the workload on the heart is still increased.

Studies found positive links between cold water swimming and brown adipose tissue – cold-activated “good” body fat that burns calories to maintain body temperature. This is different to the energy-storing white fat. Some studies revealed that exposure to the cold can increase adipose tissue production of adiponectin. This is a protein that helps protect against diabetes, insulin resistance, and other diseases. For experienced and inexperienced swimmers, taking a dip during winter can increase insulin sensitivity and decrease insulin concentration, the review found.

Advertisement

Overall, however, the review was found to be inconclusive on the overall health benefits. This is because the studies included often involved a very small number of participants, just one gender, a range of swimming experience, or used cold-water immersion in different ways (for example as a hobby or as a post-exercise treatment). There were also variables in terms of the water, such as the salt composition and the water temperature. The studies also didn’t identify if those who swam regularly were generally more naturally healthy than those who did not.

“From this review, it is clear that there is increasing scientific support that voluntary exposure to cold water may have some beneficial health effects,” Lead author James Mercer said in a statement.

“Many of the studies demonstrated significant effects of cold-water immersion on various physiological and biochemical parameters. But the question as to whether these are beneficial or not for health is difficult to assess.

Advertisement

“Based on the results from this review, many of the health benefits claimed from regular cold exposure may not be causal. Instead, they may be explained by other factors including an active lifestyle, trained stress handling, social interactions, as well as a positive mindset.

“Without further conclusive studies, the topic will continue to be a subject of debate.”  

Please note, if you decide to go for a chilly dip this winter, you need to educate yourself beforehand on hypothermia and other issues that may occur from the shock of the cold.

Advertisement

The study is published in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Qatar’s Emir discusses Afghanistan with U.S. secretaries of state and defense
  2. Exclusive-Allianz under investigation in Germany over investment funds
  3. SoftBank’s Marcelo Claure is coming to Disrupt next week
  4. Turkish Red Crescent sending aid to feed displaced Afghans

Source Link: Cold Water Swimming Is All The Rage But Is It Actually Good For You?

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • If We Found Life On Mars, What Would That Mean For The Fermi Paradox And The Great Filter?
  • The Longest Living Mammals Are Giants That Live Up To 200 Years In The Icy Arctic
  • Entirely New Virus Detected In Bat Urine, And It’s Only The 4th Of Its Kind Ever Isolated
  • The First Ever Full Asteroid History: From Its Doomed Discovery To Collecting Its Meteorites
  • World’s Oldest Pachycephalosaur Fossil Pushes Back These Dinosaurs’ Emergence By 15 Million Years
  • The Hole In The Ozone Layer Is Healing And On Track For Full Recovery In The 21st Century, Thanks To Science
  • First Sweet Potato Genome Reveals They’re Hybrids With A Puzzling Past And 6 Sets Of Chromosomes
  • Why Is The Top Of Canada So Sparsely Populated? Meet The “Canadian Shield”
  • Humans Are In The Middle Of “A Great Evolutionary Transition”, New Paper Claims
  • Why Do Some Toilets Have Two Flush Buttons?
  • 130-Year-Old Butter Additive Discovered In Danish Basement Contains Bacteria From The 1890s
  • Prehistoric Humans Made Necklaces From Marine Mollusk Fossils 20,000 Years Ago
  • Zond 5: In 1968 Two Soviet Steppe Tortoises Beat Humans To Orbiting Around The Moon
  • Why Cats Adapted This Defense Mechanism From Snakes
  • Mother Orca Seen Carrying Dead Calf Once Again On Washington Coast
  • A Busy Spider Season Is Brewing: Why This Fall Could See A Boom Of Arachnid Activity
  • What Alternatives Are There To The Big Bang Model?
  • Magnetic Flip Seen Around First Photographed Black Hole Pushes “Models To The Limit”
  • Something Out Of Nothing: New Approach Mimics Matter Creation Using Superfluid Helium
  • Surströmming: Why Sweden’s Stinky Fermented Fish Smells So Bad (But People Still Eat It)
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version