Cold Water Swimming—Benefits and Risks: A Narrative Review

Beat Knechtle, Zbigniew Waśkiewicz, Caio Victor Sousa, Lee Hill and Pantelis T. Nikolaidis
Additional contact information
Beat Knechtle: Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland
Zbigniew Waśkiewicz: Institute of Sport Science, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education, 40-065 Katowice, Poland
Caio Victor Sousa: Bouve College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Lee Hill: Division of Gastroenterology & Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8N 3Z5, Canada
Pantelis T. Nikolaidis: School of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, 12243 Athens, Greece

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 23, 1-20

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: hypothermia; endurance sports; adaptation; heart; immune system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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