From the elaborate bathing rituals favoured by the ancients to today’s Dryrobe-clad fans of cold-water swimming, we have always known that “taking the waters” is good for us. And proximity to water is beneficial even if you don’t take the full plunge. BlueHealth, a pan-European project that collected data from 18,000 people, found that those living near water enjoyed statistically better health outcomes, both physical and mental, than those living further inland. There was even evidence that the sight and sound of water have a positive impact.
Writer, health campaigner and documentary-maker Kate Muir is a true believer in blue health. Her latest book, How to Have a Magnificent Midlife Crisis, devotes a chapter to the joys and benefits of cold-water swimming. Muir swims regularly near her home in London – in an unheated lido on the edge of Hampstead Heath – and on the Scottish island of Gigha. “It has changed my life,” she writes of her early-morning plunges. “You have trounced the worst the world can throw at you, you’re done, and it’s only 7.45am… An hour or so after the ice plunge, you’re at your desk, still coasting on a massive serotonin high… followed by a deep calm.”
As well as this euphoria, Muir details medical research projects from Denmark, the Netherlands and the University of Cambridge that reinforce the positive benefits. “A regular icy plunge boosts energy, increases your stress threshold, improves your metabolism and glucose balance, decreases blood pressure, is neuroprotective and increases immunity,” she writes. A Dutch study showed that even showering in cold water for 30-90 seconds a day has a significant impact.
