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Cold Water Swimming-Benefits and Risks: A Narrative Review
Beat Knechtle1, Zbigniew Waśkiewicz2,3, Caio Victor Sousa4
1Medbase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Cold water swimming (winter or ice swimming) has a long tradition in northern countries. Until a few years ago, ice swimming was practiced by very few extreme athletes. For some years now, ice swimming has been held as competitions in ice-cold water (colder than 5 °C). The aim of this overview is to present the current status of benefits and risks for swimming in cold water. When cold water swimming is practiced by experienced people with good health in a regular, graded and adjusted mode, it appears to bring health benefits. However, there is a risk of death in unfamiliar people, either due to the initial neurogenic cold shock response or due to a progressive decrease in swimming efficiency or hypothermia.
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