I’ve always thought these “Polar Bear dips” (where people voluntarily run or jump into open bodies of water in the winter) were rather silly events. Why on early would anybody want to subject themselves to cold, icy and potentially dangerous (read: hypothermia, heart attacks) conditions? How ridiculous.
And then.
I started to have conversations with someone I’m getting to know and is becoming a good friend. It turns out they are a huge fan of an apparently popular thing called cold water immersion. They swear by it; it helps them with mental focus and clarity, aching joints, malaise, you name it. So in an effort to understand them more, I embarked on my own cold exposure protocol. For two months now, I’ve been starting my showers with 3 min of cold water only, followed by regular warm shower. While it’s quite a shock walking into a cold water shower, afterwards I feel a very pleasant cooling sensation across my upper body and upper legs. It’s a nice change from those raging fires of menopause!
I have also been doing a 5-minute outdoor meditation, standing outside on my front porch in my shorts and t-shirt and practicing Qigong-style breathing: feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent, shoulders back and a breathing cycle of 5 s inhale, 5 s exhale and 5 s breath hold. It’s got to the point where walking outside in the cold air automatically triggers the deep breathing cycle. It’s a great start to my day and I really look forward to it. And in these winter days, I get to see the sun rise (when we get treated to the sun!).
I also joined a Facebook group called “Did you swim today” and there are LOTS of people all over the world who enjoy “wild” swimming or just swimming in cold water. It’s a thing! I love seeing their pictures of swimming in the open water, then all huddled together on the shore in their swim parkas, sipping tea and eating cakes (yes, many cold water swimmers are in the UK). There’s even a group that call themselves the Bluetits! They have outfits and everything!
So seeing as many people experience cold water swimming as fun and/or therapeutic, I thought that maybe a polar bear dip may not be such a weird thing after all. Maybe all those cold showers and outdoor meditations prepared me to change my thinking?
So last week I put out a question to a group of new friends on my swim team: Does anyone know of a New Year’s Polar Bear Dip in London?
THAT got the ball rolling, and soon we were all signed up for a Polar Bear dip at Little Beach in Port Stanley. It was happening!
There were 7 of us from the swim team, but there were lots of other people at the beach, maybe about 50 total. The air temperature was -1C, and the water was 4C. WOW!! My cold exposure protocol definitely “trained” me for this event. In addition to my swimsuit, I wore goggles (they are prescription goggles so that I could see), a swim cap and toque, neoprene gloves, and water shoes. We did a 5 min “acclimation” on the beach, getting used to the cold air in our swimsuits, and I automatically started my breathing cycle. Then everyone starting running into the water! I did as well, and very quickly found out 2 things: 1. Little Beach is VERY SHALLOW for a LONG WAYS; and 2. Those water shoes did NOT protect my feet from the cold. So I realized very quickly that I was NOT going to get any swimming in! After a bit of running, my feet started to hurt from the cold, so I just dropped down into the water (not my head, but the rest of me), and started my breathing cycle again. It felt so invigorating, and I know that my cold showers prepared me for the cold water. I stayed in the water for less than a minute; my feet were SCREAMING, so I ran out, immediately put on my robe and ran to the car to change and warm my very numb feet.
My post-swim attire consisted of 2 pairs of wool socks, winter boots, fleece track pants, t-shirt, wool sweater, parka, mitts and fleece-lined wool toque. I was not shivering, but was a bit concerned about my very numb feet. We went for breakfast and warmed up with hot coffee and food. At first, I felt pretty good, feeling warmed up and not cold at all. Then about 30 minutes later, I felt rather cool within my upper body. It was kind of like after my cold shower, but a bit more intense, so I put my parka back on. It took about 15 min to warm back up.
As for my poor feet, they took a LONG time to recover! I felt a tingling sensation during breakfast, and the feeling came back very slowly. My feet stayed cold until after I got home and put my feet close to our fireplace for about 10 min.
But what a great time! In fact, our group wants to go to the beach once a month, so we’re doing it again in February! I’ve put my order in for neoprene swim boots. Stay tuned for the next cold swim adventure!
