Habitual cold-water swimming and upper respiratory tract infection.

It has long been claimed that non-wetsuit cold water swimming (CWS) benefits health (1), and anecdotally cold-water swimmers claimed to suffer fewer and milder infections, though this was not directly measured. A boost to immunity is biologically plausible: stress hormones are released during cold-water immersion (2), and short-term stress may ready the immune system for injury or infection (3). However, very few studies have investigated immune system markers and/or actual illness in habitual cold-water swimmers.

Citation

N Collier, M Lomax, M Harper, M Tipton, H Massey. Habitual cold-water swimming and upper respiratory tract infection. Rhinology. 2021 Oct 01;59(5):485-487

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PMID: 34428265

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