Enthusiasts say the frigid temperatures and warm water provide a particularly refreshing environment for exercise.
Do you think I'm crazy? You are not alone. For some people, it's hard to imagine swimming outside in near-freezing temperatures. But experts say swimming in heated outdoor pools in the winter is safe and good for your health. Nothing beats this for the dedicated cadre of winter outdoor swimmers who join me every morning.
“It's so nice to feel alive,” says Valerie Campbell, a massage therapist in Kensington, Maryland. She swims outside at the Y five mornings a week all year round. “We enjoy the sunlight, the mist on the water, and sometimes even the fierce wind that chills the heels of our kicking feet. Occasionally people come out from 'inside', but it never lasts long. ”, referring to the indoor swimmer.
Swimming outdoors on a cold night is also awe-inspiring. Robert Judson, a financial consultant in Bethesda, Maryland, remembers forgetting his usual sunrise swim and then making it back after work. “It was a dark, cold night, the stars were out,” he says. “In the middle of my usual slow miles, a little snow started falling. It was perfect. Maybe too perfect. Maybe it was a dream.”
Non-swimmers and even indoor swimmers don't always understand the passion for winter swimming. But they accept it and are even grateful. “I'm glad there are so many weirdos out there who love swimming outdoors,” said teacher Kate McComber Stern, who swims 45 minutes every day in one of her two indoor pools at the B-CC Y. says. “This will greatly reduce crowding at indoor pools.” (This kind of appreciation goes both ways.)
While it may feel especially refreshing, experts say swimming in a heated outdoor pool has no health benefits over swimming indoors.
cold Swimming does not affect calories burned cold water “If you add shivering to swimming, it's possible,” said Mike Tipton, professor of human and applied physiology at the University of Portsmouth's School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences. “This is a harrowing experience. If you exercise at an intensity greater than 'light exercise', the tremors disappear.”
Experts say that in warm ocean water outdoors (B-CC Y typically keeps water temperatures between 80 degrees and 83 degrees), once swimmers start moving, they can suffer from hypothermia, which can occur from exposure to extreme cold. There is little risk of extreme hypothermia. . Unlike in unheated outdoor water, a swimmer's body fat is less important, they say.
“Once you're in, [heated] “The water, thermoregulatory aspect,” the body's ability to maintain a safe body temperature, is “normal,” said Scott Trapp, director of the Human Performance Institute and professor of human bioenergetics at Ball State University. I am. “There's nothing in that scenario that poses a thermoregulatory risk.”
People need to distinguish between water temperature and air temperature. “Once you're in the pool, the cold air doesn't matter,” says Trapp. “You stay submerged. It's perfectly fine. In fact, it's great.”
I'm a slow swimmer, so an 82 degree pool is ideal. But fast swimmers like Anna Alberini, an economics professor at the University of Maryland, prefer water colder than 80 degrees, if not less than 70 degrees. When the temperature is too high, “you feel like you're swimming in soup and you don't want to swim,” she says. I would be shocked if I swam into a potato. ”
When the water temperature drops below 70 degrees, the risk of hypothermia increases. This is one reason why many open water lake and river swimmers train in heated outdoor pools during the winter months.
“As far as the winter goes, I don't usually swim in open water,” says Diane McManus, a teacher in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. He swims in the Schuylkill River until October. “I like swimming pools because they're easy to get in and out of, and yet they're close to nature. A night swim allows you to look up at the stars, and a dawn swim allows you to enjoy the sunrise.”
In February 2022, she exceptionally Lake Memphremagog Winter Swimming Festival in Newport, Vermont, two lanes are cut into the frozen lake, and the event is held like a regular swim meet, with spectators wearing snow parkas, hats, and boots. McManus has experience swimming in rivers and lakes and is used to swimming in incredibly cold environments. In this contest, she recalls, the water temperature was both 30 degrees and the air temperature was 1 degree.
“We had to keep monitoring the water to make sure it didn't refreeze,” she says. “All I've done is the 25-meter event,” she says, which is thankfully short. “It was tough, but it was amazing,” she says.
Experts say swimmers need to take precautions and adapt when water temperatures are very cold, below 70 degrees. That means gradually exposing them to cold water over time, says Michael J. Joyner, a physiologist and anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Be careful,” he says. “If the temperature is below 70 degrees, try a few minutes today, a few minutes tomorrow, and so on.”
How long does it take? “It's variable,” Joyner says. “However, temperatures that once felt cold may not feel so cold after a few days or even a week.
B-CC and YMCA facilities in Silver Spring, Maryland offer outdoor swimming year-round. Lifeguards often wear sweatpants, a hoodie, or a swim hoodie (a long fleece-lined coat with a waterproof exterior) over their swimsuits, and they rotate every 30 minutes to protect themselves from the cold, wind, and rain. We have a small heated hut available for shelter. (Yes, outdoor swimmers love to swim even in the rain.) If the temperature drops below freezing or the wind chill drops below 25 degrees, the pool will be closed until both rise. This will prevent people from slipping if the deck gets wet and freezes.
Should I wear a wetsuit? no. Experts say it is suitable for very cold water only if the water temperature is below 76 degrees. In fact, you may feel too hot to wear them in a heated pool.
Experts also say to avoid soaking in a bathtub before swimming outside. “When you get into that hot water, it makes the outdoor pool feel even cooler,” Trapp says. So save the hot tub for after swimming.
If you're going into an outdoor pool, a large towel, bathrobe, or swim hoodie is usually sufficient to get you from the locker room to the water and back again. But some swimmers don't care. “It only takes her a minute or two to get into the water, and that's how long she can survive,” Campbell said. “It takes a long time to put on and take off the cover, and by the time you go outside you've already warmed up from swimming.”
I swim for 45-60 minutes and don't stay outside to talk after I get out. Instead, head straight to the indoor hot tub. “In the summer, you can have conversations on the deck,” says Trapp. “We can have the same conversation in the winter, but in the locker room.”
