4 ms·

Jumping into cold water can stop your heart

96 points by fanf2 6mo ago

mikestew 6mo ago
I jumped into icy (literally) water with a few high school friends many decades ago. I still remember that it felt like my heart stopped when we jumped into the water. Now I find out that it can literally happen. Good thing we were young cross country runners in good shape. (Yes, I read the part that athletes aren’t immune.)
locallost 6mo ago
I learned to swim at an older age and my instructor told me this because at the time a person died screwing around in a boat with his family. Jumped into the water on a hot day and dived for fun, but never came back up.
cannonpr 6mo ago
I’ve been swimming both winter and summer since 1ish years old though less so post 30’s due to locale, and I’ve never had much of an issue with gasping with cold water impact, sure there is an urge but I’ve always suppressed it without issue. Yet literature is adamant you can’t ? I wonder if it’s habituation or just a biological quirk.
- mikestew 6mo ago
  TFA mentions habituation as a mitigation: ”Habituate. Five or six short cold-water dips over a couple of weeks will cut the cold shock response roughly in half, and the effect lasts for months. This is probably the single most underused safety intervention in open-water swimming.”
  - Cpoll 6mo ago
    I've experienced a similar adaptation when experimenting with cold showers. In that sense it was somewhat of a detriment; the cold became less invigorating but just as unpleasant.
- borski 6mo ago
  Habituation. You’re effectively trained.
dewey 6mo ago
Living in the alps this is something you hear from time to time, people going hiking and jumping into ice cold mountain lakes after and dying on the spot.
buildbot 6mo ago
How common is this? In scouts we often did this, jumping into alpine lakes where you could see a glacier melting across the water. We were also told that to treat heatstroke tossing someone in the lake and then treating for shock was somewhat preferable…
- PyWoody 6mo ago
  Very common. There are quarries around where I am that have signs posted to not swim there in the Spring. Yet, like clockwork, 1-2 people drown each Spring.
  - sigmoid10 6mo ago
    That's a different kind though and only mentioned on the side in the linked blog. If you don't know what you're doing and you jump into freezing water for the first time, chances are that you'll breathe in water. Happened to me as well. Let me tell you, it really sucks. If you're unlucky, this can definitely be enough to make you drown. But with training you can easily overcome this problem. I have jumped into arctic waters many times since then with zero issues. What the blog claims, is that there is a vague, general physiological risk from some kind of mixed response targeting your heart. I have to say I've never heard of this before (except for people with pre-existing conditions) and the blog does a poor of explaining the biology beyond high school level anecdotes. It also cites zero sources. So while there is a risk, it is not what you might think after reading OP's link.
    - PyWoody 6mo ago
      No, I am not talking about people drowning from the gasp reflex. Every single year, during the first "hot" day of late Spring/early Summer, kids will get on their bikes, go to the local quarry where they've swum a million times before, and die from exposure. The quarries are deep and surrounded by trees. Most of them don't receive any direct sunlight. So, while the ambient temperature may be 75F, the quarry water will still be near freezing. A kid will jump from up high on the quarry ledge down into the water, go into shock, and die before they can swim to edge. Again, this happens every single year.
senordevnyc 6mo ago
Jesus, can’t anyone write their own fucking short blog post anymore??
- jareklupinski 6mo ago
  > consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. not when money is involved
- Esophagus4 6mo ago
  The internet is a content beast, and the beast must be fed.
- gruez 6mo ago
  Don't worry, the author has this blog post in book form as well, complete with AI-generated images! https://jmelau.gumroad.com/ https://jmelau.gumroad.com/
- owaiswiz 6mo ago
  > Not in the middle of the fjord. Not halfway across the channel. The first three minutes Easiest tell
  - sjducb 6mo ago
    Genuine question, why is this a tell? It looks like good dramatic writing to me.
    - Cpoll 6mo ago
      Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing That structure is common. "Not X, but Y" plus "Rule of three." It's not that humans don't ever use that structure, but it's rare outside of LLM output. Any single data point doesn't mean it was LLM generated, but they add up.
  - dalmo3 6mo ago
    At this rate Lee Child must have already secretly invented AGI.
kakacik 6mo ago
When I was doing road trip through Iceland in may cca 10 years ago, I ended up in northern part in some sort of camping where there was just my tent. Plus surprisingly some local kids were on some school trip. I dont even recall how the heck I ended up with them in their trip bus, going to some canyons. Everybody got wet suit (around 5mm), and we ended up jumping from cca 5m cliff down to river. There were still patches of snow on the banks and water temperature was corresponding, most inland of Iceland had still metres of snow, only ring road was cca passable. Most boys and me kept jumping and climbing back up, it was almost same cold in wet wet suit next to river than swimming in it. Most girls shivered like crazy, blue lips and all. These were icelanders, around 13 years old, tough as it gets re cold. I recall their teacher explained it to me that in the past, as test of maturity every boy (not sure about girls) had to swim across big fjord somewhere around Husavik IIRC as sort of rite of passage, at least 3km width. Glad nobody had heart stopped, that river was murky and strong. Every jump into that cold was like an electric ahock to mu body
- elabajaba 6mo ago
  > These were icelanders, around 13 years old, tough as it gets re cold. Iceland has a famously mild climate, even during winter their average temperature is still above 0C.
FpUser 6mo ago
Back in the old USSR we would go to banya (Russian Sauna) and it had creek right flowing close to front door. we dug in a huge barrel so it formed a tiny pond of really icy water. So we sit in a sauna for a while and then jump into that icy pool and then cycle repeats. One barely feels cold after getting out of sauna and into the water. More like some exciting sensation.
jona777than 6mo ago
[dead]
deadbabe 6mo ago
Is there a way to jump into cold water but also ensure you don’t stop your heart?
- borski 6mo ago
  Spray yourself with cold water first and minimize exposed skin. That’s literally what TFA says.
- AngryData 6mo ago
  Jump into or heavily splash yourself with cold water more often to better train and regulate your body's response.
alehlopeh 6mo ago
> Michael Tipton described this sequence in 1989, and it has not really changed since How exactly could the human body’s response to cold water shock change since 1989? > This is how strong pool swimmers drown ten meters from a boat. They drown 10 meters from the boat when they first hit the cold water? Did they jump 10 meters?
- lexicality 6mo ago
  > How exactly could the human body’s response to cold water shock change since 1989? microplastics
- PufPufPuf 6mo ago
  1. Our understanding of the underlying mechanisms may change over time. 2. They don't die instantly after hitting the water.
x-n2o 6mo ago
“ Cold water on the face, together with holding your breath, sets off what is called the diving response. Your heart slows down. The blood vessels in your arms and legs squeeze shut” - aka. The Mammalian Reflex. I thought it did the opposite - blood pressure goes down thus your vessels expand.
rick_floss 6mo ago
Had to look up the term: Winter swimming. Avantouinti in Finnish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming?wprov=sfti1 Very popular. Never have I heard of anything other than health benefits from this.
time4tea 6mo ago
Float to Live https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/cold-water-shock https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/cold-water-shock
dymk 6mo ago
AI slop article, pass
smnplk 6mo ago
Oh, the famous "The takeaway" bullet point.

96 points by fanf2 6mo ago

I jumped into icy (literally) water with a few high school friends many decades ago. I still remember that it felt like my heart stopped when we jumped into the water. Now I find out that it can literally happen. Good thing we were young cross country runners in good shape. (Yes, I read the part that athletes aren’t immune.)

locallost 6mo ago

I learned to swim at an older age and my instructor told me this because at the time a person died screwing around in a boat with his family. Jumped into the water on a hot day and dived for fun, but never came back up.

cannonpr 6mo ago

I’ve been swimming both winter and summer since 1ish years old though less so post 30’s due to locale, and I’ve never had much of an issue with gasping with cold water impact, sure there is an urge but I’ve always suppressed it without issue. Yet literature is adamant you can’t ? I wonder if it’s habituation or just a biological quirk.

mikestew 6mo ago
TFA mentions habituation as a mitigation: ”Habituate. Five or six short cold-water dips over a couple of weeks will cut the cold shock response roughly in half, and the effect lasts for months. This is probably the single most underused safety intervention in open-water swimming.”
- Cpoll 6mo ago
  I've experienced a similar adaptation when experimenting with cold showers. In that sense it was somewhat of a detriment; the cold became less invigorating but just as unpleasant.
borski 6mo ago
Habituation. You’re effectively trained.

dewey 6mo ago

Living in the alps this is something you hear from time to time, people going hiking and jumping into ice cold mountain lakes after and dying on the spot.

buildbot 6mo ago

How common is this? In scouts we often did this, jumping into alpine lakes where you could see a glacier melting across the water. We were also told that to treat heatstroke tossing someone in the lake and then treating for shock was somewhat preferable…

PyWoody 6mo ago
Very common. There are quarries around where I am that have signs posted to not swim there in the Spring. Yet, like clockwork, 1-2 people drown each Spring.
- sigmoid10 6mo ago
  That's a different kind though and only mentioned on the side in the linked blog. If you don't know what you're doing and you jump into freezing water for the first time, chances are that you'll breathe in water. Happened to me as well. Let me tell you, it really sucks. If you're unlucky, this can definitely be enough to make you drown. But with training you can easily overcome this problem. I have jumped into arctic waters many times since then with zero issues. What the blog claims, is that there is a vague, general physiological risk from some kind of mixed response targeting your heart. I have to say I've never heard of this before (except for people with pre-existing conditions) and the blog does a poor of explaining the biology beyond high school level anecdotes. It also cites zero sources. So while there is a risk, it is not what you might think after reading OP's link.
  - PyWoody 6mo ago
    No, I am not talking about people drowning from the gasp reflex. Every single year, during the first "hot" day of late Spring/early Summer, kids will get on their bikes, go to the local quarry where they've swum a million times before, and die from exposure. The quarries are deep and surrounded by trees. Most of them don't receive any direct sunlight. So, while the ambient temperature may be 75F, the quarry water will still be near freezing. A kid will jump from up high on the quarry ledge down into the water, go into shock, and die before they can swim to edge. Again, this happens every single year.

senordevnyc 6mo ago

Jesus, can’t anyone write their own fucking short blog post anymore??

jareklupinski 6mo ago
> consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. not when money is involved
Esophagus4 6mo ago
The internet is a content beast, and the beast must be fed.
gruez 6mo ago
Don't worry, the author has this blog post in book form as well, complete with AI-generated images! https://jmelau.gumroad.com/ https://jmelau.gumroad.com/
owaiswiz 6mo ago
> Not in the middle of the fjord. Not halfway across the channel. The first three minutes Easiest tell
- sjducb 6mo ago
  Genuine question, why is this a tell? It looks like good dramatic writing to me.
  - Cpoll 6mo ago
    Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing That structure is common. "Not X, but Y" plus "Rule of three." It's not that humans don't ever use that structure, but it's rare outside of LLM output. Any single data point doesn't mean it was LLM generated, but they add up.
- dalmo3 6mo ago
  At this rate Lee Child must have already secretly invented AGI.

kakacik 6mo ago

When I was doing road trip through Iceland in may cca 10 years ago, I ended up in northern part in some sort of camping where there was just my tent. Plus surprisingly some local kids were on some school trip. I dont even recall how the heck I ended up with them in their trip bus, going to some canyons. Everybody got wet suit (around 5mm), and we ended up jumping from cca 5m cliff down to river. There were still patches of snow on the banks and water temperature was corresponding, most inland of Iceland had still metres of snow, only ring road was cca passable. Most boys and me kept jumping and climbing back up, it was almost same cold in wet wet suit next to river than swimming in it. Most girls shivered like crazy, blue lips and all. These were icelanders, around 13 years old, tough as it gets re cold. I recall their teacher explained it to me that in the past, as test of maturity every boy (not sure about girls) had to swim across big fjord somewhere around Husavik IIRC as sort of rite of passage, at least 3km width. Glad nobody had heart stopped, that river was murky and strong. Every jump into that cold was like an electric ahock to mu body

elabajaba 6mo ago
> These were icelanders, around 13 years old, tough as it gets re cold. Iceland has a famously mild climate, even during winter their average temperature is still above 0C.

FpUser 6mo ago

Back in the old USSR we would go to banya (Russian Sauna) and it had creek right flowing close to front door. we dug in a huge barrel so it formed a tiny pond of really icy water. So we sit in a sauna for a while and then jump into that icy pool and then cycle repeats. One barely feels cold after getting out of sauna and into the water. More like some exciting sensation.

jona777than 6mo ago

[dead]

deadbabe 6mo ago

Is there a way to jump into cold water but also ensure you don’t stop your heart?

borski 6mo ago
Spray yourself with cold water first and minimize exposed skin. That’s literally what TFA says.
AngryData 6mo ago
Jump into or heavily splash yourself with cold water more often to better train and regulate your body's response.

alehlopeh 6mo ago

> Michael Tipton described this sequence in 1989, and it has not really changed since How exactly could the human body’s response to cold water shock change since 1989? > This is how strong pool swimmers drown ten meters from a boat. They drown 10 meters from the boat when they first hit the cold water? Did they jump 10 meters?

lexicality 6mo ago
> How exactly could the human body’s response to cold water shock change since 1989? microplastics
PufPufPuf 6mo ago
1. Our understanding of the underlying mechanisms may change over time. 2. They don't die instantly after hitting the water.

x-n2o 6mo ago

“ Cold water on the face, together with holding your breath, sets off what is called the diving response. Your heart slows down. The blood vessels in your arms and legs squeeze shut” - aka. The Mammalian Reflex. I thought it did the opposite - blood pressure goes down thus your vessels expand.

rick_floss 6mo ago

Had to look up the term: Winter swimming. Avantouinti in Finnish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming?wprov=sfti1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_swimming?wprov=sfti1 Very popular. Never have I heard of anything other than health benefits from this.

time4tea 6mo ago

Float to Live https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/cold-water-shock https://rnli.org/safety/know-the-risks/cold-water-shock

dymk 6mo ago

AI slop article, pass

smnplk 6mo ago

Oh, the famous "The takeaway" bullet point.