I was the child who wouldn’t get out of the water. My parents would stand at the shore, yelling for me to come in. They’d have packed up all our gear and would start walking, before I dashed out to catch up with them – wrinkled like a prune, crusted in salt, and gloriously happy.
My capacity for staying in the water far exceeded that of of my brother and cousins (we spent every summer at the beach with my cousins). Now I understand that as a probable indicator that I had more ‘brown fat‘ in my body (that’s the insulating fat) than they did. Interestingly, people living in or originating from cold-climate regions like Scandinavia tend to have higher proportions of brown fat. My heritage is a mixture of Scandinavian (on my paternal side) and Welsh (on my maternal side). So, out of me, my brother and my maternal-side cousins, who do you think got the Norwegian genes…?!
That was a long and self-indulgent introduction to Danish academic, Dr Susanna Søberg’s, book, Winter Swimming.
Søberg took her extensive research into human physiology, metabolic science and thermal response, and turned it into an accessible guide for people wanting to begin cold-water swimming. The book details the body’s cold-shock response, acclimatization, potential health benefits, and then the how-to and safety considerations. There are lots of lovely photographs and interesting diagrams of anatomy, brown fat cells and so forth.
The shock of cold water demands full attention from body and mind to survive, because the mind interprets cold-water swimming as a life-threatening situation. The experience is generally described as a kind of positive shock, a moment of reset, in which your brain gets a kick-start of energy and you’re ready to face whatever comes your way.
If I lived close to the beach, I’d be a winter swimmer. Not because I want access to all the purported health benefits of cold plunges but simply because I love the tingle of cold water and then the feeling of getting warm.
Did this book tell me anything I didn’t already know about how to become a winter swimmer (there are a number of safety precautions that you must take, most obviously never swimming alone)? Not really, but this beautifully bound volume has secured a spot in my books-about-swimming library.
3.5/5
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I want to do more open water swimming but I feel like winter swimming is still something I’m working up to! I think I have more brown fat too though, so there’s no excuse 😀
no brown fat in me at all!
I have to admit, I hate cold water, so I probably won’t be taking up winter swimming anytime soon. But your last line about loving the tingle of cold water and then the feeling of getting warm made me think about something completely unrelated.
Perhaps one of the strange things about cold is that it makes us suddenly conscious of warmth. And warmth doesn’t have to remain physical — it can become human warmth, intimacy, the feeling of being close to someone.
I have a short story called The River that plays with something very similar, although in a completely different context. I was reminded of it reading your post.
I haven’t read the book you’re reviewing, so I’m not commenting on it — just on that little observation of yours. It struck me as an unexpectedly beautiful way of describing why someone might voluntarily put themselves into freezing water. 🙂
I think my fat is just the ordinary kind!
I became a swimmer in primary school – getting my first lessons at Inverloch (in an ocean pool as I remember) then living for years in much warmer north western Victoria – Murrayville, which had a 25m pool open Sept-Easter. Later, my first long distance swim was in the Hazlewood pondage which was kept warm by the power station. I’ve never been a great fan of cold water. For twenty years I dreaded winter training and did ocean swims as infrequently as I could get away with.
This is interesting Kate. I, a Queenslander, do not like swimming. And one of the reasons, that I often forget to mention to people, is that as a child I would come out of the water blue. I always thought it was because I was a thin asthmatic child, but maybe it’s a genetic issue. Interestingly, I too have Scandinavian (maternal) and Welsh (paternal) genes.
I went through a swimming laps phase between my mid-30’s to mid-40’s so I can understand the appeal, but mine was shortlived. Too many sinus infections took away the enjoyment I got from it. So I tried more beach swimming, but got sinus from that too, and ear infections! It’s not meant to be.
So I enjoy your swim and sandwich pics instead 🙂
Clearly the author has never attempted to swim in the Pacific waters off of Oregon and Washington. Too cold and tumultuous. Ugh. Every year folks do take the polar plunge on New Years Day in the Puget Sound, however. I’ve watch it on TV. Ha!
I have recently started swimming through winter and I love it. But I live in Sydney, so compared to other parts of the world, the water isn’t really very cold. I too am collecting a books about swimming library – have you got other reviews in your archives?