Cold Water Swimming-Benefits and Risks: A Narrative Review.

Beat Knechtle, Zbigniew Waśkiewicz, Caio Victor Sousa, Lee Hill, Pantelis T Nikolaidis

International journal of environmental research and public health 2020 Dec 02

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Cold water swimming (winter or ice swimming) has a long tradition in northern countries. Until a few years ago, ice swimming was practiced by very few extreme athletes. For some years now, ice swimming has been held as competitions in ice-cold water (colder than 5 °C). The aim of this overview is to present the current status of benefits and risks for swimming in cold water. When cold water swimming is practiced by experienced people with good health in a regular, graded and adjusted mode, it appears to bring health benefits. However, there is a risk of death in unfamiliar people, either due to the initial neurogenic cold shock response or due to a progressive decrease in swimming efficiency or hypothermia.

Citation

Beat Knechtle, Zbigniew Waśkiewicz, Caio Victor Sousa, Lee Hill, Pantelis T Nikolaidis. Cold Water Swimming-Benefits and Risks: A Narrative Review. International journal of environmental research and public health. 2020 Dec 02;17(23)