5 Ways Wild Swimming Could Boost Your Mental Health

5 Ways Wild Swimming Could Boost Your Mental Health
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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.

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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 Gymnasium London. “You are solely in the moment, focusing on your technique, your timing and your breathing. That singular focus is especially healthy for us in modern society when we are constantly overstimulated by technology. The water is a space where we can fully disconnect.” Add to that calming, natural surrounds, and the benefits become two-fold. “There aren't many other forms of cardio that force you to be mindful of your breathing either,” Cunningham adds. “Attention to the breath is a key element in any form of training to maximise the benefits of the session.”

Whether suffering from a virus or stress, our immune system’s natural response is inflammation. Short term, this isn’t a problem, but prolonged inflammatory response has been found to exacerbate depressive symptoms. According to Tipton, wild swimming can help: “There are physiologically-based hypotheses that suggest that swimming regularly in cold water results in a cross-adaptive anti-inflammatory response. This is beneficial because some mental health problems [such as depression] are thought to have an inflammatory basis.”

Secreted by your adrenal glands, cortisol is an important natural stimulant that helps us handle everyday life. Too much cortisol, however, can lead to anxiety and weaken the immune system, so it’s vital we keep it in check. This is where a wild swim might help. “Immersion in cold water results in a ‘cold-shock’ response: gasping, hyperventilation, increased heart rate, release of stress (sympathoadrenal) hormones,” explains Tipton. “Repeated cold water immersion allows acclimatisation, including a reduction in the cold-shock response – a reduction in the level of the stress hormones (noradrenaline, cortisol, ACTH).”

As well as reducing stress, wild swimming can actively boost levels of the happy hormones in our bodies too. A study undertaken by scientists in Prague in 2000 found that cold water immersion can boost dopamine levels by 530 per cent (the neurotransmitter that helps us experience pleasure); while further studies in 2008, by molecular biologist Nikolai Shevchuk, discovered it also increases beta-endorphin and noradrenaline, the feel-good chemicals in our brain. Tipton agrees that after immersion in cold water, “concentrations of dopamine, serotonin and b-endorphins are associated with improved mood or the ‘post-swim high”. According to Dr Peter Bongiorno, a naturopathic doctor based in New York, wild swimming also raises our natural endocannabinoid levels, which gives us a mood boost (it’s this system in our bodies that’s responsible for physiological processes including appetite, pain-sensation, mood and memory).

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It helps you connect with nature

Being in nature is something that has been long been thought to have a significant impact on our mood. “For many, this kind of communion with our ecology is evolving. It’s a place to seek inspiration, intuition and peace and also to be humbled by the immensity and wonder of nature,” says Start. It’s been suggested that ‘green exercise’ such as wild swimming helps to foster a more positive mindset, reduce feelings of fatigue and anxiety and even improve your likelihood of sticking to regular workouts.

“Training in nature can have profound positive physical and mental health benefits,” adds Cunningham. “If you live in a city, programming in time in nature every week is essential for your health. A recent study suggests that spending 120 minutes a week in nature will boost wellbeing. You can break that down into 15 to 20 minutes per day, or get it all in one day per week – the results are the same.”

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