Citation

Knechtle B, Waśkiewicz Z, Sousa CV, Hill L, Nikolaidis PT. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020; 17(23): e8984.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph17238984

PMID

33276648

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Drowning; Drowning Prevention; Water Safety

Language: en

Keywords

hypothermia; adaptation; endurance sports; heart; immune system