The benefits of open water swimming are widely felt and observed but not yet fully documented by the scientific community, as they combine the effects of immersion in nature, cold water and strenuous exercise all at one time.
“It actually does change your pulse and it changes our physiology as humans,” says our protagonist, Atlantic Annie. “And it's apparently activating the parasympathetic nervous system, which I have come to understand over the last 10 years, is our relaxation response, activated when we sleep, when we're with our favorite pet, with a lover. And I was getting that by swimming.”
For Annie these benefits are particularly important because of childhood trauma which surfaced as full-blown PTSD some years later as an adult. She has since been successfully treating this chronic anxiety for two decades now, adding in open water swimming over the past ten years.
“I love the way I feel after, and I love the experience itself," Annie tells us after a swim at her favorite spot along the Southern New England shore. “And I haven't found many sports where I feel such a sense of calm.”
Annie is far from alone in feeling these benefits, according to our expert this episode, Dr. Heather Massey, a lecturer in Physiology at the University of Portsmouth (UK) and an avid open water swimmer.
“People have sent me their Garmin watch information about their resting heart rates,” Dr. Massey says, “and told me when their periods of regular outdoor swimming have been compared to when they haven't swam outdoors.”
Dr. Massey theorizes this calming effect has to do with a well documented phenomenon known as the Mammalian Diving Reflex. “Cold water swimming is what we call a perturbation, and it totally disrupts the status quo within the body,” she explains. “It's putting the body in a position where it needs to react to the stimulus of cold water.”
Open water swimming has serious risks and should not be undertaken alone or without prior medical consultation. But swimming safely against a small amount of potential risk may paradoxically have a calming effect on open water swimmers like Atlantic Annie and others with anxiety issues.
Tune in to find out more about the calm within the storm of open water swimming this episode, “PTSD & Open Water Swimming.”
My Body Odyssey is a Fluent Knowledge production.
Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.
Expert:
Dr. Heather Massey
Show Notes:
What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
CPTSD (Complex PTSD)
Open-water swimming: a beginner's guide
Health Benefits Derived from Forest: A Review
Harvard Health Publishing: Take the plunge for your heart
Improved mood following a single immersion in cold water
Cold Water Swimming—Benefits and Risks: A Narrative Review
Physiology, Diving Reflex
The Mammalian Diving Reflex: 4 Fascinating Things Happening to Your Body When You’re In Water
The Mammalian Diving Response: An Enigmatic Reflex to Preserve Life?
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Effects of Cold Stimulation on Cardiac-Vagal Activation in Healthy Participants: Randomized Controlled Trial
Vagus nerve stimulation
How Does Vagus Nerve Stimulation Reduce PTSD Symptoms?
Understanding PTSD From a Polyvagal Perspective
The effects of cold water immersion and active recovery on inflammation and cell stress responses in human skeletal muscle after resistance exercise
Health effects of voluntary exposure to cold water – a continuing subject of debate
Short-Term Head-Out Whole-Body Cold-Water Immersion Facilitates Positive Affect and Increases Interaction between Large-Scale Brain Networks
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma