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Is Swimming In Ice Water Good For You?
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Feb 13, 2024
We visited the Ice Swimming Championships to learn the benefits of swimming in freezing water and to monitor the numerous records broken at the event.
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0:00
That feeling when you get out and that rush that hits your body is something I've never
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felt and I kind of enjoy it. The improvements it can make are recognisable, it's really quite good
0:20
I suffer from depressions and addictions. When I'm in the water I feel totally at peace and totally calm
0:27
I think the main benefits for a disabled and para swimmer really is the community side
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It is such an inclusive sport this that they can come and be unequal
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And so I wanted to do a swim which could tell a story about the melting and the warming
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of Antarctica. I can honestly say it was the most terrifying swim I've ever done
0:58
We have to maintain a close proximity to the swimmer when they're in the water just to
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monitor the change in them because it's not a gradual thing, it's almost instantaneous
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a lot of the time. You hear a lot being said about cold water shock response and that's the first thing
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that causes them a problem. So these guys condition themselves over a long time to get used to that cold water shock
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and that's the initial response. The body starts to protect its inner core so your extremities go, you get what we call
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claw fingers where your hands will spread, speech goes and then at the extreme end of
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it the eyes will roll back in the head. It's very very different in every swimmer
1:46
It was pain, it was a lot of pain. All my body feels like someone put a needle in it, it was all around my body
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I didn't last even one minute the first time. The critical point is when you put your head into the water
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When the head is up it's okay but when you put the head into the water and keep on swimming
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then it's hard. I always believe that the records are to be broken
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That's helped the sport to getting to the upper level and I believe that the younger
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generation is the future of this sport and of course the younger swimmers are always faster
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The water temperature is somewhere between three to four degrees. The technique that they use for warm water, they need to adapt here
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It doesn't work here. You have to have a different strategy. You don't feel the water here
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You miss a lot of the sensation that swimmers get. You have to work on muscle memory
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We get into the water, you get tight, muscles get tight, blood supply slows down during
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the swim, blood gives all the oxygen. So you have to understand it and then learn how to swim fast within these new constraints
3:00
Cold makes us weak and the only few of us who can handle it and be clever all the time
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during the event can achieve good results. That feeling when you get out and that rush that hits your body is something I've never
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felt and I kind of enjoy it. Three new world records, the 50 meter backstroke, 100 meter fly and then I broke the 100 meter
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back this morning. They were all their own unique challenges for sure and I'm still getting used to the
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turns and the cold and how my body's reacting. I for sure think I can go faster
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Competing against ex-Olympian and they are elite veterans. This is no doubt and I am a rookie
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It was both great stress and great pleasure. So I only saw IOMFS, I didn't know how much behind was the German swimmer, behind the
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French and the others. I didn't really know that. My mind was like, OK, hold it, hold it, don't let it loose, don't let it loose, just hold
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it and I held it until the end. And I beat them, yeah, so I'm really proud of myself and I think I will remember this
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for the rest of my life. Through the community it's proven to mental health, physical health, the improvements
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it can make are recognisable, it's really quite good. It's just so nice to be here, so nice to swim
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It would just be so nice if there was more para and adaptive and disabled swimmers coming
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to the ice events because it is such a welcoming community. I swim every day because it's good for the leg, the pain is lower and so I train every
5:18
day and I hope if we are a few paras to do this, other people see, oh, perhaps I can
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do it too. I think every time it's difficult because one part of you don't want to be there because
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it's so cold and of course sometimes it's painful for the hypotherm
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We love the nature, we love to stay and swim in that condition and of course compete in
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that condition. It's a wonderful sport I think. Conditions in Antarctica is very challenging because the temperature of the water could
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be less zero and it's painful and also with the snow and the current and of course the
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safety is the first, yes, more than the Guinness, more than my passion
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So I undertake swims in some of the most remote places on earth to try and get them protected
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and one of the places which I've seen change hugely is Antarctica
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And in Antarctica what we're witnessing now, what the scientists are witnessing now is
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these lakes appearing on top of the Antarctic ice sheet and sometimes the water then drills
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through holes and creates tunnels and this is what lubricates the bedrock and makes these
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ice sheets unstable. And so I wanted to do a swim which could tell a story about the melting and the warming
7:13
of Antarctica and so I went down to Antarctica and I did a swim down this tunnel underneath
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the Antarctic ice sheet. We are under the East Antarctica ice sheet
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It's one of the most extraordinary, it is the most extraordinary place I have ever visited
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And utterly, utterly beautiful. And the irony is that in order to show the world it's heating up I actually have to freeze
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during that process. I've got to just see in my mind that thin thread of starting here and being able to
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finish, that I'm going to be able to get through that tunnel with the ice falling, that there
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isn't going to be a moon on that's going to suck me down to the bottom, that I'm going
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to be able to survive the 10 or 15 minutes in the water without getting hypothermia and
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then they are going to be able to get me out and reheat me. I've got to see that line all the way through to the end
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And then I heard some of the ice moving above my head and the noise, it sounded like the
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whole lot was going to come down on top of me. I swam as quick as I could through that tunnel and got out the other end
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I can honestly say it was the most terrifying swim I've ever done
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The water temperature was about 1 or 2 degrees
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I didn't measure it because then at least I didn't have to know what the temperature was to prepare myself for it
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Free diving really helps with my, I suffer from depressions and addictions and it really
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helps because I really love being in the water. When I'm in the water I feel totally at peace and totally calm and with the free diving
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I have to hold my breath and mentally focus so it's almost like a form of meditation and
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it allows the noise and all the negative thinking in my head to totally calm down
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How I felt when I came up at the 70 meter hole was relief
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I still had lots of breath in me but I felt wow there was so much build up to the record
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attempt and I only had one shot at it so I was really happy
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There's no body type or body shape or age or it is literally open to everyone
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If you can tolerate the cold and learn to tolerate the cold, anybody can do it
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Swimming is a united people all around the world. It's a great sport
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It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport
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It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport
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It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport. It's a great sport
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It's a united people all around the world and this I believe can one day come to the
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Olympic Games. My responsibility is to be a voice for the oceans and all the magnificent wildlife in
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the oceans and so every swim now I do is to try and advance that cause
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