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I wonder if people who have training with cold water resist significantly longer. I knew Finns who would go in mid January to swim for ten minutes in a hole cut

by lkozma 16y ago

I wonder if people who have training with cold water resist significantly longer. I knew Finns who would go in mid January to swim for ten minutes in a hole cut in the ice of a frozen lake, then sit around for a while, dress up and go on with their day. And that was without sauna.

wallflower 16y ago
Lynne Cox, the only person to have swum a mile in Antarctic waters and to swim the Bering Strait. "Dangerous marine animals aside, the [Gulf of 'Aqaba] swim was among Cox's most physically challenging. A battery of scientific studies done on Cox over the years has revealed some startling facts about her physiology. First, the muscle and fat in her body are so perfectly balanced that she has neutral buoyancy, meaning that she neither sinks in water nor floats. As one researcher told her, "You're at one with the water" - a critical energy-saving advantage during long-distance swims. More remarkable, however, was the discovery that Cox's body is superbly adapted to cold temperatures. On entering cold water, a person's surface blood vessels constrict, forcing warm blood to the vital organs at the body's core. Normally, however, this is a stopgap that works for only a short time. By contrast, Cox's vital organs are insulated by an evenly distributed layer of insulating fat. Warm blood shunted to her core remains warm dramatically longer. So effective is this "internal wet suit," that Cox's temperature actually rises during a hard swim in cold water." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox
- mahipal 16y ago
  But apparently she had been swimming for decades -- a lot of it in (progressively colder?) ocean water -- and she was studied "over the years." So it seems pretty possible that her physiological adaptations were a result of, not a cause of, all that cold-water swimming.
cromulent 16y ago
I know a couple of Finns that have swum everyday for decades, no matter what the water temperature (eg through ice). They claim it builds up brown fat. Maybe the ratio of brown fat has something to do with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue
kqr2 16y ago
Some practitioners of meditation, in particular Tummo, claim that they can change their body temperature which allows them to withstand extreme cold: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html The world record holder for ice immersion (1 hour, 44 minutes) is Wim Hof who describes himself as a Tummo master. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof
- ukdm 16y ago
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpKXE2lm4t0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpKXE2lm4t0
c1sc0 16y ago
There is certainly an amazing amount of adaptation going on when you start swimming in cold water. Swimming short amounts of time (10 mins) in cold water can be done safely with proper training & supervision. You can definitely learn to control or reduce the initial cold shock reflex (gasping for breath).

by lkozma 16y ago

wallflower 16y ago

Lynne Cox, the only person to have swum a mile in Antarctic waters and to swim the Bering Strait. "Dangerous marine animals aside, the [Gulf of 'Aqaba] swim was among Cox's most physically challenging. A battery of scientific studies done on Cox over the years has revealed some startling facts about her physiology. First, the muscle and fat in her body are so perfectly balanced that she has neutral buoyancy, meaning that she neither sinks in water nor floats. As one researcher told her, "You're at one with the water" - a critical energy-saving advantage during long-distance swims. More remarkable, however, was the discovery that Cox's body is superbly adapted to cold temperatures. On entering cold water, a person's surface blood vessels constrict, forcing warm blood to the vital organs at the body's core. Normally, however, this is a stopgap that works for only a short time. By contrast, Cox's vital organs are insulated by an evenly distributed layer of insulating fat. Warm blood shunted to her core remains warm dramatically longer. So effective is this "internal wet suit," that Cox's temperature actually rises during a hard swim in cold water." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynne_Cox

mahipal 16y ago
But apparently she had been swimming for decades -- a lot of it in (progressively colder?) ocean water -- and she was studied "over the years." So it seems pretty possible that her physiological adaptations were a result of, not a cause of, all that cold-water swimming.

cromulent 16y ago

I know a couple of Finns that have swum everyday for decades, no matter what the water temperature (eg through ice). They claim it builds up brown fat. Maybe the ratio of brown fat has something to do with it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_adipose_tissue

kqr2 16y ago

Some practitioners of meditation, in particular Tummo, claim that they can change their body temperature which allows them to withstand extreme cold: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html The world record holder for ice immersion (1 hour, 44 minutes) is Wim Hof who describes himself as a Tummo master. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof

ukdm 16y ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpKXE2lm4t0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpKXE2lm4t0

c1sc0 16y ago

There is certainly an amazing amount of adaptation going on when you start swimming in cold water. Swimming short amounts of time (10 mins) in cold water can be done safely with proper training & supervision. You can definitely learn to control or reduce the initial cold shock reflex (gasping for breath).