Health and Well-being Series: Cold Water Swimming

Whatever the length of a swim, health benefits immediately start accruing. These might include:

An increase in metabolism from 25-40 percent, boosting your circulation and stimulates blood flow to the vital organs. This in turn forces your heart to pump faster, pushing blood through your vessels, delivering oxygen and nutrients.
Cold water can also boost your immune system as the lymphatic system gets stagnated, especially if you don’t exercise regularly. When you immerse yourself in cold water, the lymph vessels contract, forcing the fluid around the body and flushing out waste.
It even triggers white blood cells to attack and destroy unwanted substances in the lymph. This means you are better able to fight off bugs and infections.
The cold water triggers mood-enhancing neurotransmitters and makes you feel happy, which helps you to deal with depression and low mood.
It’s even believed that it can increase oestrogen and testosterone production, thus improving libido and self-esteem.

To see a personal perspective on how wild swimming can improve depression, see Jo Gifford’s blog here: How Cold Water Swimming Saved Me in 2020 | by Jo Gifford | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Bluetits Chill Swimmers are constantly popping up over the UK, so to find a group in your area go to: The Bluetits Chill Swimmers – The Bluetits Chill Swimmers – Challenging Our Limits Together. They can also be found on Facebook as the @thebluetits

Another helpful local group on Facebook is: @kentseaswimmers