What are the Disadvantages of Swimming in Cold Water?
There are some side effects of swimming in cold water that you should be aware of.
In another article, we saw how swimming in cold water can help you lose weight. But cold water is nasty. If you don’t prepare adequately, you can experience its nasty side effects.
Before you take up any water sport, you need to know the risks involved. Most people focus on the benefits of swimming every day. However, a wise person knows the risks involved.
When you know the dangers of swimming in cold water, you can adequately prepare for the sport. So there are many risks. However, if the pros of swimming in cold water outweigh the cons, swim.
The good thing is that, despite what cold water does to your body, you won’t be stuck in your house without your cardio just because it is the cold season. And you don’t have the luxury of a heated swimming pool.
Swimming in cold water: Side effects
Some people say that swimming in cold water makes you sick. Some also talk about the many health benefits of cold water. But are the risks true or unfounded? Here, we bring you cold water swimming side effects:
1. Swimming in cold water poses the risk of hypothermia
This is one of the most serious risks when swimming in a cold pool. In the UK, every year, there are about 20,000 hypothermia-related deaths.
Hypothermia is when the surroundings are so cold that the body starts losing heat. When swimming in cold water, your body starts losing heat to the surroundings.
Science shows us that the human body cools down so fast. It would take the body twice the time it takes to cool down to warm up. It also takes more energy! In that case, it is best to swim without the risk of hypothermia.
The regular body temperature is within the 36.5 to 37.5°C range. When the body temperature starts to drop below 35°C, you are at risk of suffering from hypothermia.
People who love swimming in open water face the risk of hypothermia. It is harder to control the temperature of the water in a lake or in the ocean. However, this does not mean that a cold-water swimming pool is any better.
If hypothermia is happening, your body starts to cool down, or lose heat, the minute you are exposed to the cold. Thus, it starts to cool down when you are changing to your swimming attire.
When you get into the water, the body cools down further. Again, when you get out of the water, your body cools down much further.
Indications of slipping into hypothermia
To know that you are slipping into hypothermia, watch out for the common signs. These include shivering, blue lips, cold skin, pale skin, quick breathing, and, in many cases, slurred speech.
If you notice any of the above signs, know that your body is crossing the point of no return. In that case, you should find help very quickly.
When you swim in ice water, experts recommend that you not stay in the water for more than two minutes. Thus, even if you are swimming in a cold pool to lose weight, be careful with your timing. Get in and out as soon as possible.
Remember, when you are measuring the time that you have been exposed to cold, you have to count the time it took you to change into your wetsuit, the time that you were in the water, and the time it took you to change back into dry clothes.
How to treat hypothermia
Treating hypothermia is not hard at all. However, you should get help soon before your body becomes so cooled down that you are unable to do anything for yourself.
Get out of the cold water and change into dry clothes as soon as possible. You need to warm up gradually.
After wearing dry clothes, wrap yourself up in extra warm clothes or use a blanket. Also, get a hot and sugary drink, or you can eat a sweet snack.
If there is a fire, move closer. It will take a long time to get warmed up completely, but again, not extra long. If you don’t start warming up in 20 to 30 minutes, you should seek emergency help.
If you have been asking: Can swimming in cold water make you sick? The answer is yes. It cannot only make you sick, but it can also kill you easily.
2. Cold water shock
Unlike hypothermia, where the body loses heat to the surroundings gradually, cold-water shock is so abrupt. Jumping into cold water can send your body into cold-water shock and even kill you immediately.
What actually happens is that when your body comes into contact with the cold water, the blood vessels in and under the skin close up immediately due to the shock. Thus, the heart has to work much harder to sustain the blood flow.
If cold water shock is going to kill you, it will do so in the first 90 seconds of getting into the water. However, not to be dramatic here, it is not a must that you die, but the sudden immersion into ice-cold water is going to cut your breath short so fast.
How to avoid cold water shock
To avoid cold water shock, avoid jumping into cold water so fast. First, give your body time to acclimate to the cold weather. This means exposing yourself to the cold when you are changing so that you get used to the cold.
Also, when getting into the swimming pool, do not jump in. Rather, get in slowly, feet first. It is going to be quite a chill, but it will help you avoid cold-water shock.
3. Drowning when swimming in cold water
When you swim in cold water, there is a bigger risk of drowning than in warm water. For example, if you experience cold water shock, you could drown so easily.
By definition, drowning is when you inhale water into your lungs. Thus, you can imagine just how easily drowning could occur when you experience cold water shock.
One of the signs of cold water shock is rapid breathing. In those critical 90 seconds, you can inhale a lot of water.
In addition, when swimming in the ocean, you could become too cold. One of the side effects of swimming in cold water is that your body cannot be as active as it would be in warm water.
Therefore, you could drift along to wherever the current carries you, since you might not have the energy to fight it.
The waves will be too strong for you to swim against them. If you are going to swim in cold water, choose a moment when the water is not too cold, and you can do cold water dipping safely.
If there are no waves and currents to swim against, you will preserve your energy, so you can swim longer and harder.
4. Swimming in ice water will give you chilblains
What are chilblains?
When your body reacts abnormally to the cold, you could suffer from chilblains. This is a condition where your blood does not circulate normally when you are exposed to a sudden, severe cold.
What happens is that the blood vessels close to the skin surface narrow up, and some might even close up.
Since blood circulation to the skin is interrupted, you will start noticing swollen parts of the skin that are reddish and itchy.
Chilblains are common in the UK in the winter, when the weather turns cold and damp. Thus, when you swim in winter, check out for this condition. It is not as severe as cold water shock or hypothermia, but you should still be concerned about it.
Can swimming in cold water make you sick?
As you have seen in the past sections of this article, you will definitely get sick from swimming in cold water.
Swimming burns calories. Swimming in cold water burns even more calories. But there are downsides. If you are not careful when swimming in cold water, you can experience hypothermia or cold water shock, and this might even lead to death.
So yes, despite the many health benefits of cold water, you could get sick. If cold and damp weather alone in the UK can give you chilblains, you know that cold water dipping can make you go through worse than that.
Swimming outdoors in winter is extremely challenging, and only very well-prepared people can do it. You cannot swim in regular swim trunks. Rather, you need a thick, say, up to 5mm wetsuit for swimming.
You also have to wear swimming gloves to keep your hands warm when swimming in cold pool water.
Conclusion
You have seen the most serious effects of swimming in cold water. If you are not very careful, this could lead to serious health complications like hypothermia and chilblains, and even death.
However, swimming in winter is possible when you use the right gear for swimming in cold water.
The most vital thing is to know what to wear in a cold swimming pool, and you will swim to your heart’s content in cold weather.
But remember not to stay too long in the cold pool water. A quick dip in winter should do, that is, if you must do it.