The sound you make when using cold water is the first thing no one tells you. A sharp intake of breath that occurs before the brain has time to negotiate, but not quite a scream. If you ask anyone who swims through a British winter, they will specifically, almost nostalgically, recall this moment. It’s similar to how people talk about a particularly bad turbulence on a flight they would gladly take again.
Since the pandemic, outdoor swimming has become increasingly popular, and those who are drawn to it hardly ever refer to it as exercise. They characterize it as a method of resetting a mind that has been operating too hot or too flat for an extended period of time, more akin to maintenance. It’s interesting to see how a centuries-old practice that was written off for decades as strange or somewhat Victorian is now at the center of discussions about depression, anxiety, and the boundaries of what a 50-minute therapy session can truly treat.
Most mornings before work, a small group of swimmers congregate on a specific stretch of coastline close to Hove without much fanfare. A flask is brought by someone. Another person enters despite complaining about the temperature. It’s not glitzy. Additionally, according to most accounts, it’s one of the more successful strategies some of them have tried for managing their mental health, which may speak to the limitations of other forms of support as well as swimming.
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Practice | Cold water and open water swimming |
| Reported mental health benefits | Reduced anxiety, elevated mood, increased dopamine and serotonin |
| Common settings | Sea, lakes, rivers, lidos, outdoor pools |
| Population affected by mental health issues annually (UK) | Roughly 1 in 4 people |
| Notable UK organizations | Mental Health Swims, Mind |
| Key physiological response | Increased blood flow, nerve stimulation, endorphin release |
| Recommended approach | Gradual acclimatization, supervised group swims |
It is important to state clearly rather than skirting the fact that the science in this case is still lagging behind the anecdotes. Researchers have discovered that immersion in cold water seems to raise levels of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphin the same neurotransmitters linked to motivation and mood regulation. According to the working theory, when the body is suddenly shocked by cold, it compensates by flooding itself with these feel-good chemicals. This biological overcorrection results in people feeling calmer than they were before. It’s a neat explanation. It’s still genuinely unclear whether this is the entire explanation, and the majority of researchers who have looked into this would probably agree.
The mental discipline that the cold seems to require is more difficult to measure and perhaps more fascinating. A sort of instantaneous, involuntary focus on breath, body, and the next four seconds rather than the next four months is forced when you submerge yourself in water that is just above freezing. More than any chemical reaction, people who suffer from anxious rumination frequently describe this as the actual mechanism at work. You are not asked to think your way out of a spiral by the water. It simply makes it momentarily impossible to think about anything else.
Repetition is another issue. Avoidance the gradual, cumulative habit of avoiding anything uncomfortable is a common source of anxiety. The opposite is true when swimming in cold water. It asks a person to enter a controlled period of physical discomfort voluntarily, breathe through it, and emerge unharmed. If you do that enough times, something will change. When the nervous system is shown that it can withstand the shock of cold water, it becomes somewhat less certain that everything else is a crisis as well. Several swimmers describe carrying that same steadiness into unrelated stressful moments, such as job interviews, difficult conversations, and the everyday friction of daily life.
The majority of respectable swimming organizations are careful to state that cold water swimming is not a replacement for clinical treatment. It seems like the right stance to take when Mind, the mental health charity, presents swimming as an addition to other forms of support rather than a substitute for them. In any given year, about one in four people in Britain will suffer from a mental health issue. These issues can range from anxiety to depression to more serious conditions that are resistant to any one solution, no matter how wet or cold.
Once people have been using a certain language for a while, it becomes difficult to ignore it. The feeling of having discovered one dependable lever to pull on a challenging day is more akin to relief than the language of hobbyists. This has led to the formation of both informal and less informal communities. Organizations such as Mental Health Swims now organize group sessions designed especially for individuals dealing with mental health issues, complete with safety briefings, hot beverages, and the kind of unspoken solidarity that results from everyone having just done something a little awkward together.
The majority of seasoned swimmers are quick to point out the dangers of cold water shock, hypothermia, and the unpredictable nature of open water before anyone romanticizes the sport too much. Knowing the local conditions, swimming with others, and gradual exposure are not optional extras. They are what distinguish a risky practice from one that is beneficial.
A quiet reevaluation of what constitutes appropriate mental health support appears to be taking place, albeit slowly and rather unglamorously. For those who require medication or talk therapy, cold water swimming won’t be a substitute. It’s making a name for itself alongside those things, backed by an increasing amount of research and an even greater number of people who are just willing to attest to how it makes them feel. It’s still unclear if that’s due to biology, ritual, or a combination of the two. For their part, the swimmers don’t seem to care all that much about the response. They’re back in the water already.
i) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/52MXpSRTxf12p9Rk6Kt4bdJ/how-wild-swimming-helped-my-mental-health
ii) https://www.swimming.org/justswim/swimming-improves-mental-health/
iii) https://www.cognacity.co.uk/2022/12/05/mental-health-benefits-of-open-water-swimming/
iv) https://www.vitality.co.uk/magazine/wild-swimming-the-health-benefits/
v) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1lqlzzl0z7o