To think everyone should accustom themselves to cold water

[silverystream]

It has been quite fashionable in certain circles to take ice baths / cold water baths or showers. Stuff about health benefits and autophagy and reducing inflammation etc.

But beyond this I think it is a really good idea because most drownings occur due to cold water shock. Yet people can get accustomed to sitting baths full of ice cubes! I just watched a thing about Alaska wherby someone fell in icy water and was pulled out pretty quickly. They said if they didn't act quick he would lose his fingers! Yet Wim Hof dove under the ice and swam underwater and I think holds a world record for this. Isn't it a good idea to start taking cold water baths in order to build up resilience?

I think so and take a cold water bath everyday. Cold tap water doesn't even feel that cold after a while.

What do you think?

A BIG FAT NO

I thought everyone did this OP? You’re not alone

Is there any other training that you do 'Just in case' OP, I'm fascinated by your emergency prep!

Only other training I do is running everyday. I suppose it might come in useful in the event of a zombie apocalypse...

The things I do have more than just one advantage, though. They have certainly helped me with recovery from the cancer treatment I had the other year.

*Leonie Dawson, professional adviser to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: "This isn't advisable for everyone. If someone had an underlying heart condition then the shock could be damaging.

"And for anybody with Raynaud's - a problem of the circulation - it would have a devastating effect on them."*

Maybe add a disclaimer to your advice, OP.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17015767

I know you mean well.

But a properly thought out risk analysis would not lead most people to consider the daily plunging themselves daily into icy water to be a proportionate response to the risk of drowning in cold water.

Leonie Dawson, professional adviser to the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, said: "This isn't advisable for everyone. If someone had an underlying heart condition then the shock could be damaging.

"And for anybody with Raynaud's - a problem of the circulation - it would have a devastating effect on them."

Maybe add a disclaimer to your advice, OP.

Well, I'm not going to argue with professionals. I'm just a lay person with ideas. It's why I asked for opinions. With any activity you have to consider how it might affect any existing conditions.

But a properly thought out risk analysis would not lead most people to consider the daily plunging themselves daily into icy water to be a proportionate response to the risk of drowning in cold water.

As I have already said there are other benefits too.

As I have already said there are other benefits too

I'm struggling to find them on an academic article or from a reputable source like the NHS. The only BBC article I found said that there wasn't enough evidence to recommend it.

The DP was sarcasm - eye roll!

ALoadOfTwaddle, well apart from anything else I enjoy it.

Well, whatever floats your boat, op, but most people don't enjoy being in cold water, so it stands to reason that enjoyment wouldn't be a benefit for them.

most people don't enjoy being in cold water, so it stands to reason that enjoyment wouldn't be a benefit for them.

A lot of people do. Cold water plunge pools have been around for centuries. Spas (very fashionable in the 1800s) traditionally have included cold water 'treatments'. People have saunas then roll in the snow.

But most don't. And your opening statement was that 'everyone' should do it.

Twaddle, your pedantry is getting tedious...

Well, if you'd conceded that the answer to your OP is 'yes, YABU to think that' rather than trying to dredge up tenuous arguments in favour of it, I wouldn't have been able to descend into pedantry. It takes two, you know. You're as bad as me.

There absolutely is research regarding the benefits of cold exposure:

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11154-016-9358-z

academic.oup.com/jcem/article/102/11/4226/4117435

www.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/ajpendo.00218.2017#.WlfGEBx0e3s.twitter

www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/2/140211-shivering-cold-exercise-brown-fat-white-fat-irisin-metabolism-weight-loss/

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3895006/

The idea that cold exposure has health benefits is not exactly new and I don't understand why the OP is getting so much stick for mentioning it on here. Unless you have pre-existing health conditions, cold exposure certainly won't harm you, it's completely free and if nothing else, swimming in a cold lake and warming up with a fluffy towel and a cup of tea afterwards feels fantastic. Some people just seem determined to be negative about everything they haven't tried or that isn't explicitly recommended by the NHS. It's not like the OP is trying to flog overpriced green juice MLM crap.

Sorry, I will not concede.

My arguments are not tenuous either. Lots of people like cold water bathing. Have done for centuries. It does get easier over time as people get accustomed to it. This is commonly observed. This undoubtedly would reduce part of the shock element concerning falling in cold water. I never once denied that there are other serious issues which makes unexpectedly falling in cold water dangerous.

This thread just leaves me thinking many posters need to get out more... A lot of the posts are very funny but I really do not understand the unnecessary antagonism in a good proportion of posts.

I’m Crying with laughter at this thread

I actually did cycle into a canal once and it wasn’t icy cold. I hate cold water so much I feel like crying when I have to get in an unheated pool. Even when the air temp is 40c on holiday

Thank you Purbeck.

But most don't.

That may be the case in the UK, but many Scandinavians would disagree with you.

I MUCH prefer the funny and sarcastic answers to the ones taking this too seriously. The DP one and how posters believed it had me looking

*lolling

This thread is hilarious!

This thread should be in classics