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Risk, Benefit and Perception in Cold Water Swimming
With a nice chart to help you think about how long to stay in the water
What is the optimum length of time to swim in cold water?
Let’s be clear from the outset: science has not given us an equation to work out the optimum amount of time to swim in cold water. Nor, I suspect, will it ever. There are too many variables, and too much individual variation. Plus, you have to factor in your subjective experience.
This doesn’t mean we can’t think about cold water exposure in a sensible and reasoned way, using what science and experience tell us.
The key factors to consider are the risks, the benefits and how it feels. The latter comes with a caveat, as we will see later. A fourth factor is the question about what you want to get out of cold water swimming. Are you doing it for pleasure and your general health and wellbeing or are you exploring and testing your physical limits?
Starting with risk, we know the biggest challenge in the first couple of minutes is cold water shock. With prolonged exposure, our risk of swim failure and hypothermia increases. The exact timescales and magnitude of the risk depend on a range of factors including our habituation, the conditions, our…
