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:
“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one,
and come away.
For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;”
—Bible: Hebrew The Song of Solomon (l. II, 10–12)
“Good swimmers drown and good riders get thrown.”
—Chinese proverb.