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Is Swimming In Ice Water Good For You?
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
0:32
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
0:42
of Antarctica. I can honestly say it was the most terrifying swim I've ever done
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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
2:03
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
2:32
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
3:22
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
4:07
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
4:57
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
6:11
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
7:57
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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