When You’ve Just Got To Swim In The Cold Months
We love swimming in the sea, we live near the coast and we head there whenever we can, but like many people, we’re fairly seasonal in our approach, when it starts getting colder we start swimming less.
We’re not unique in swimming outdoors; it’s very popular all around the world. People have pools in their backyard or head to public community pools. Additionally, many people also love going to the beach and enjoying the lovely water.
There are many ways we can enjoy being in the water, but the difficulty comes with the colder months Many of us still want to be in the water, we love swimming so we’d like to be able to do it all year round.
Swimming in colder waters can certainly have its advantages and disadvantages. If you think you might want to swim where the temperature will be cold, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.
First of all, before you even enter the water, you should be sure that you are healthy enough to enjoy the cooler water. There are several things to consider when determining if you are healthy enough to get in the cold water. One of those is your general fitness level, will you be able to swim properly in the cold? This is something to consider to be sure that you do not inadvertently cause harm to yourself and possibly others. You should also be sure that you do not have any kind of ailment that could get worse from being in the cold water for an extended period.
You should be careful as to how you enter the water. While some people like to take a running start and just jump in so that they do not have the temptation of chickening out, this may not necessarily be the best move for you. Often you may need to give your body some time to adjust to the water temperature, especially when it is frigid.
It really is better for you to take your time and move into the cold water slowly so that you can give your body time to adjust to the drastic temperature difference. Sometimes if you go in and move too quickly, your body will not react well to it.
Something I do is to get into waist deep water and then put my face in and blow bubbles out hard, do this a few times and I feel safer when I get right in, and my feet are off of the ground. It saves having a sudden shock when I’ve got no stable base to recover if I need to.
Water that is really cold can cause you harm or, more alarmingly, can cause your body to react in a way that you are not expecting. It is very important that you are aware of your limitations and just how much time you can spend in the water this cold; know how hard you should push yourself when it comes to swimming in the frigid water.
Unless you’re Lewis Gordon Pugh, we highly recommended that you look into acquiring the right gear. This is going to depend on just where you decide to go swimming, what time of year it is, and just how cold the water is. Some people will always wear a wetsuit so that they can be cozy but still have a fairly good range of movement. Other people also wear swim caps so that their head is kept warmer and their hair dry so that can maintain their body heat.
While thinking of just what you should be wearing when you decide to go for a dip in cold water, it is also important to think about what you do when you get out. It’s easy to think that it’s warmer outside the water than in but there are many factors that will cool you down fast and it’s also easy to not realize just how much swimming in cold water has taxed our bodies.
It’s good to have plenty of layers of clothing to change into when you exit the water, you need to give your body as much insulation and protection as possible because you’re in a weakened state.
It is also important that when you are in frigid waters that you do not stray too far away from shore, it’s hard to know how much our bodies can take, given the temperatures. Many people like to go out further and further in hopes of finding the perfect spot for some serenity or the perfect picture, or they just want to physically push themselves. This is something we would advise against, it’s just not worth the risk.
The ideal is to institute some sort of buddy system so that you can keep an eye on each other. Swimming out in the open water does not come without its dangers in even the most ordinary conditions. When you add in the fact that the water will be cold, it is even more important that you are with someone who could help you in the case of an emergency.
It is also important to think about warming up your insides – many times this can be done by having a warm drink once you are out of the water.
Swimming in cold water can be a great way to stay in shape even when it is cold outside, but it is certainly important for a person to take the necessary precautions to ensure that you are as safe as you can possibly be.
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