Come swim with your Valentine or find one there ;-)
Take warm clothes with you.
Bronx Polar Bear Plunge and Harlem Shake Orchard Beach Winter Edition REMIX this Saturday 2/16 at 11am Section 9! World Extreme Rebel Chef is cooking up soup, Artist Daniel Hauben considers a canvas, Hip Hop Theory Dance Company popping + locking, Bronx Polarbears, Coney Island Polar Bears and more! The Bronx Trolley pick up at 9:30am near Grand Central (42nd St. between Park and Lexington Ave.) provided by the Bronx Tourism Council.
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5 health benefits of cold water swimming
- Boosts your immune system
For your body, a sudden and drastic change in temperature constitutes an attack – as anyone who’s ever fallen overboard in British waters will concur. And, whilst “attacking” your own body may not sound like a good thing, there is no harm in keeping it on its toes. In fact, quite the opposite.
Scientists from the Czech Republic immersed witting subjects in cold water for one hour, three times a week and monitored their physiology. They found significant increases in white blood cell counts and several other factors relating to the immune system. This was attributed to the cold water being a mild stressor which activates the immune system and gives it some practice.
2. For an all-natural high
Winter swimmers talk a lot about the ‘high’ they get from cold water – a feeling of wellbeing that’s so encompassing that it becomes quite addictive (who doesn’t want to feel truly good, at least once a day?) The cause? Endorphins.
Endorphins are the body’s natural pain killers and, in the case of a cold dip, it uses them to take the sting away from your skin. So, to get high on your own supply, all you need to do is jump in a river.
And if you think that sounds dangerously close to the pleasure/pain barrier then you’re probably right. The two other primary causes for endorphin release are pain and orgasm.
The cold will also stimulate your parasympathetic system, which is responsible for rest and repair, and this can trigger the release of dopamine and serotonin. These neurotransmitters are a vital part of keeping us happy and low levels of them are linked with depression. Couple this effect with the endorphin rush as you take the plunge and it should make for a warm glow and a wide smile when you re-emerge.
