Cold water swimming and diabetes

[Antje77]

I've recently taken up cold water swimming. (Very recently, I only went 3 times so far.)

It started more or less accidentally. On our way back from the gym we took a different route because of a closed road. We saw a spot that looked good for swimming, so we went to check it out for future (summer!) use, when we saw three people about to have a swim in the 10°C water.
My friend and I recognise a challenge when it slaps us in the face, so in we went, in our underwear!
Before we knew it, we were part of a whatsApp group of people having regular swims there, so it looks like we'll keep it up.

We swam in ice today!
I never expected to still like it when it would get this cold, but I still do.

 

[gogobroom]

We swam in ice today!
I never expected to still like it when it would get this cold, but I still do.

View attachment 64660

View attachment 64661

View attachment 64662

View attachment 64663

That's fantastic, a great effort and so good for you. I only managed a 1 minute dip in my cold plunge, it was a very chilly 2 degrees in there with the outside temp feels like -5, like you I had to break the ice first. brrrrrrrrrr

 

[HSSS]

Well done. I can’t even turn the shower down to tepid let alone this

 

[Antje77]

That's fantastic, a great effort and so good for you. I only managed a 1 minute dip in my cold plunge, it was a very chilly 2 degrees in there with the outside temp feels like -5, like you I had to break the ice first. brrrrrrrrrr

I think we only stayed in for 2 or 3 minutes, which was more than enough!

 

[Antje77]

Well done. I can’t even turn the shower down to tepid let alone this

There is no way I'll shower any colder than HOT, I'm completely with you on that one!

 

[becca59]

Loving this thread @Antje77 and your progression. There are so many known health benefits for this sort of swimming.

 

[Melgar]

OMG, I am so doing this. It would have to be in the ocean along with the seals and gulls. The rivers are too dangerous and the lakes frozen over so the ocean. I see two ladies in their 70's swimming. They love it. Also there is a lady , she is in her 90's, who swims in the harbour. She swims everyday of the year. The two women I see are only in there for a few minutes else hyperthermia will kick in but the heath benefits are high. I am going to try and persuade my other half to join me. I think it maybe it is too dangerous in the cold to swim alone. I love this thread.

 

[Antje77]

OMG, I am so doing this. It would have to be in the ocean along with the seals and gulls. The rivers are too dangerous and the lakes frozen over so the ocean. I see two ladies in their 70's swimming. They love it. Also there is a lady , she is in her 90's, who swims in the harbour. She swims everyday of the year. The two women I see are only in there for a few minutes else hyperthermia will kick in but the heath benefits are high. I am going to try and persuade my other half to join me. I think it maybe it is too dangerous in the cold to swim alone. I love this thread.

I'm a bit jealous of you having an ocean available!
Sounds like you're already thinking of how to implement safety measures, so I won't bore you with those, agree with not going alone though.

Besides, I'm not the person to ask, last weekend my neighbour and I, after a lot of beer and whisky decided that swimming in the shallow and muddy canal next to my house at 3 AM was a perfect plan.
We were not wrong, lots of fun has been had (and I still have to retrieve my other neighbour's ladder which is hopefully still there after our midnight adventure), but I think this goes against all sensible advice on winter swimming.
The one safety measure we took was to have another neighbour go along to keep an eye on us, who laughed his backside off at his two fat, idiot, naked neighbours. (Naked because we had been swimming at 10 PM as well, so our swimwear was wet. And enough whisky was involved to not care, despite usually having some body image issues.)

So be warned, this open water swimming can be addictive and lead to unusual behaviour!

I'll include the link to an informative website on the subject, written by much more sensible people than I am, just in case someone stumbles on this thread in the future: https://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/category/survive/getting-started/
Please listen to them and don't do as I do!

 

[Melgar]

I'm a bit jealous of you having an ocean available!
Sounds like you're already thinking of how to implement safety measures, so I won't bore you with those, agree with not going alone though.

Besides, I'm not the person to ask, last weekend my neighbour and I, after a lot of beer and whisky decided that swimming in the shallow and muddy canal next to my house at 3 AM was a perfect plan.
We were not wrong, lots of fun has been had (and I still have to retrieve my other neighbour's ladder which is hopefully still there after our midnight adventure), but I think this goes against all sensible advice on winter swimming.
The one safety measure we took was to have another neighbour go along to keep an eye on us, who laughed his backside off at his two fat, idiot, naked neighbours. (Naked because we had been swimming at 10 PM as well, so our swimwear was wet. And enough whisky was involved to not care, despite usually having some body image issues.)

So be warned, this open water swimming can be addictive and lead to unusual behaviour!

I'll include the link to an informative website on the subject, written by much more sensible people than I am, just in case someone stumbles on this thread in the future: https://www.outdoorswimmingsociety.com/category/survive/getting-started/
Please listen to them and don't do as I do!

You sound like you had a blast even if it was in a muddy canal. I'm guessing the beer and Whiskey lubricated your adventurous spirits! The sheer adventure of it all lolol. I have done wild swimming before, spontaneity is the key. Naked swimming is the best. There is nothing like it. When I lived in Québec (I lived on a lake) I would go early morning when the mist was still blanketing the water and nobody was around, and in I would go. I loved it. So hearing you swimming in open water, I just want to get out and into the open water and swim. There is a lake close by, but unfortunately there is a very healthy population of leaches. The dogs love to swim there, but we have to check them over , but they don't care. I'm not really a sqeamish about such things but I would prefer not to have them stuck to my body. We haven't got the meltI'll check out your outdoor swimming society link for sure. I need a swim suit !

 

[Zhnyaka]

now I regret that having the opportunity to swim in the sea beyond the Arctic circle, I did not use it. But it really seems that the colder it is, the easier it is to control diabetes (or maybe the fact is that I was drinking a lot of alcohol and walking a lot at that time).
God, @Antje77, you're so cool! I envy and admire!