5 Ways Wild Swimming Could Boost Your Mental Health

Getty Images It’s long been hailed by evangelists as a serious life tonic, but now a study by the British Medical Journal has proven the positive impact that wild swimming can have on our mental health. This mood lift is something writer Lou Stoppard discovered when she spoke to women who swim in London’s iconic Hampstead Heath Ladies’ Pond for The New Yorker : “For many of the women who come here day after day, year after year, it has become a special kind of oasis.” As one of its regulars, 62-year-old Julia Dick, tells Stoppard, “It’s a welcoming space… The pond can support you through crises. It helped me with the death of my parents. And with menopause, all the mood changes.” So if you’ve been contemplating a wild swim, now’s the perfect time to brave your local beach, cove, lake or river and discover just how beneficial it can be. What is wild swimming? Wild swimming, or open water swimming, is the practise of swimming in a natural body of water. “In our grandparents’ day, swimming holes were where people learnt to swim and congregated on a summer day – to paddle, picnic and play. Today there is a resurgence of interest in this traditional pleasure and people are learning to explore their rivers and lakes for swimming again,” says Daniel Start, author of Wild Swimming . “There is something slightly naughty, a little bit scary and wonderfully invigorating about leaving your wetsuit at home, and entering open water with just your skin (and perhaps a swimming costume) between you and the elements,” Start says. Getty Images Five ways wild swimming can benefit mental health: “The meditative effect that swimming can have is not to be undervalued,” says avid wild swimmer Matt Cunningham, performance specialist at Workshop […]

Click here to view full article