Winter Swimmers
It is possible to undergo physiological conditioning to reduce the cold shock response, and some people are naturally better suited to swimming in very cold water. Adaptations include the following: (1) having an insulating layer of body fat covering the limbs and torso without being overweight; (2) ability to experience immersion without involuntary physical shock or mental panic; (3) ability to resist shivering; (4) ability to raise metabolism (and, in some cases, increase blood temperature slightly above the normal level); (5) a slight but significant ability to mentally control blood flow to the muscles: and (6) a generalized delaying of metabolic shutdown (including slipping into unconsciousness) as central and peripheral body temperatures fall. In these ways, winter swimmers can survive both the initial shock and prolonged exposure. Nevertheless, the human organism is limited by its thermal design: in freezing water, the struggle to maintain blood temperature (by swimming or conditioned metabolic response) produces great fatigue after 30 minutes or less.
Read more about this topic: Cold Shock Response
Famous quotes containing the words winter and/or swimmers:
“all ignorance toboggans into know
and trudges up to ignorance again:
but winter’s not forever, even snow
melts; and if spring should spoil the game, what then?
all history’s a winter sport or three:”
—E.E. (Edward Estlin)
“Not only does every animal live at the expense of some other animal or plant, but the very plants are at war.... The individuals of a species are like the crew of a foundered ship, and none but good swimmers have a chance of reaching the land.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)