3 ms·
I think the idea is that a sudden immersion in cold water when the weather is hot can cause a sudden contraction of your blood vessels which can result in a syn
by simias 8y ago
I think the idea is that a sudden immersion in cold water when the weather is hot can cause a sudden contraction of your blood vessels which can result in a syncope. At least that's what I've always been told, but I know there's a lot of cargo culting and urban myths surrounding these topics so it's hard to know what's really dangerous and what's just superstition. For instance as a kid I've always been told that it was risky to swim just after eating a meal (because of the bloodflow required for digestion or something like that) but as far as I know it's been debunked and doesn't make biological sense.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoSyncope == faint(ing) TIL a new word, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncope_(medicine)
- simias 8y agoI actually ended up with this word while attempting to translate the French word "hydrocution" but after some more googling it looks like "cold shock response" is the right term: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_shock_response
- snowwrestler 8y agoI find it hard to imagine how a swimming pool could be cold enough in a hot climate for this to be an issue for anyone healthy. If it's hot for more than a couple days, the pool water will start to warm up too. I've heard of this concern more in the context of much larger bodies of water like the ocean or snow-fed mountain lakes, which can stay cold a lot longer than a pool by virtue of their size (and in the case of the latter, a continuous influx of very cold water).