Cold water swimming modified my life – however sooner or later I made a easy, but near-fatal mistake… This is what occurred to me, and what you MUST know earlier than taking the plunge

The second I realised my tongue wasn’t working correctly, I knew I’d made a horrible mistake.

I’d allotted myself ten minutes within the freezing Cornish sea which, given my degree of expertise, I’d calculated to be secure.

I felt positive, nice even, as I started getting dressed. Then hastily I used to be shivering uncontrollably and crammed with nausea. The five-minute drive house felt inconceivable, so I gave in and made the humiliating name to my husband – my speech now slurring – asking him to gather me. The panic in my voice was audible.

I learnt an essential lesson that day: specifically, how dangerous chilly water dipping is in the event you don’t comply with the security guidelines. Or in the event you get cocky, as my husband stated whereas he bundled me into the automobile.

I’d succumbed to chilly water incapacitation, the stage simply earlier than full-blown hypothermia. As my physique temperature dropped, my blood flowed to guard my core, depriving my extremities of oxygen and inflicting non permanent numbness and co-ordination failure.

A fellow cold-dipper I’d met at my native London lido had warned me of this situation, so I took her recommendation and spent all afternoon mendacity down, ploughing by means of gallons of scorching tea to heat up.

It was a newbie’s mistake, the primary time since I’d began chilly water swimming that I’d not left the water feeling euphoric and brimming with vitality.

Back then – 9 years in the past – I used to be a beginner at what’s now a nationwide sport; round 1.2 million individuals within the UK belong to out of doors swimming teams, of which 65 per cent are feminine.

I started my swim journey in my late forties. I’d simply hit perimenopause and had been battered by insomnia, anxiousness and despair. I began doing triathlons in makes an attempt to train my means out of the doldrums, however the extra I swam in chilly water the extra I seen how unbelievable I felt afterwards.

There had been hiccups alongside the best way – not least my brush with hypothermia –- however now, age 57, I’m absolutely acclimatised to chilly water. I swim all 12 months spherical in simply my swimming costume, or ‘skins’ as consultants name it. My psychological well being is probably the most strong it has ever been and my perimenopausal despair is a factor of the previous – because of HRT (hormone substitute remedy) too.

But there’s additionally been an surprising profit. I’ve made a few of my closest pals since I began, and the communal facet of chilly water swimming is an unbeatable prescription for longevity. Loneliness is usually a killer while you get outdated, and discovering your tribe significantly as children develop up is usually a life saver.

Elsewhere, I’ve personally seen that my immune system has received stronger since I began dipping, whereas others report higher sleep, improved pores and skin and reminiscence and diminished anxiousness. The shock of the chilly – something under 15C– in flip enhances your physique’s skill to deal with stressors. Essentially, the acute temperature change shocks your cells into doing what they’re presupposed to.

And you don’t must do it for lengthy to reap these advantages; in response to thermic scientist Dr Susanna Soberg, 11 minutes of chilly water publicity per week is sufficient to obtain important well being advantages.

Crucially, although, I’m simply as conscious of the risks as I’m of the advantages.

The problem is that there are such a lot of unpredictable variables, as a result of the chilly impacts everybody another way and your response varies by the day.

A foul night time’s sleep, extra stress, hormonal fluctuations and even what you’ve eaten beforehand can worsen your response to the chilly. And it’s definitely not one thing it is best to do hungover.

It took me some time to ascertain my private secure routine, by means of analysis and good old school trial and error. If you’re contemplating taking the plunge, I’d advise you do the identical.

After that have with chilly water incapacitation, I at all times ensure to have a transparent exit from the water, and I by no means swim alone.

Show-offs (and sure, they’re principally males) have a tendency to leap in right away, and whereas it’s good for bravado, it may be extremely harmful. Focus on deep respiration as you get in to permit your physique to adapt to the temperature, and decrease your self in slowly.

Lay your garments out within the order you’ll costume to avoid wasting time, hat on first, and put on one thing woolly because it warms you quickest. Have a scorching drink prepared since you wish to heat your core rapidly, which is why a scorching bathe gained’t assist. Your warmest blood flows to your core first to guard your very important organs relatively than warming your largest one – your pores and skin. When it does that you could be really feel discombobulated and somewhat confused, so cowl the pores and skin and heat your core with a drink.

And crucially, keep in mind the ‘after drop’. Your core temperature can proceed to drop lengthy after your swim, so ensure you keep wrapped up all day afterwards.

I at all times put on neoprene socks and a hat within the water throughout winter. I could also be ridiculed for this nevertheless it makes swimming safer and simpler. Studies present you solely have to get your shoulders below to reap the advantages, and it does really feel extra communal to speak and swim.

Check together with your GP for any underlying well being situations, then give it a go! Anyone is welcome poolside, lakeside or on the seaside.

And one other hidden profit: when you get chilly acclimatised you definitely save on heating. Now it’s me, as a substitute of my husband, who’s at all times turning the thermostat down.

Lorraine Candy co-hosts the Postcards From Midlife podcast and you may comply with her at @lorrainecandy