ralph diaz wrote: > Take a look at this site: > http://www.oceanswims.com/YADA/viktor.html > > Doesn't it make you wonder a bit about cold water exposure and how much a > human can take. [snip] > > Acclimation is obviously the key. I wonder what benefit might be derived > from deliberately taking plunges as the cold water season sets in; or taking > extensive showers with only the Cold tap on? Pretty amazing, all right. Wonder how much antifreeze they have on board? <g> The only data point I can bring to mind re: acclimatization to cold water immersion is a careful study of fish-filleters which was done several years ago. Filleters work in frigid water (ca. 32-35 F, IIRC) for many hours a day, with no loss of function in their hands, **after** a "break-in" period of six weeks or more. New filleters not already accustomed to the cold water could only work for half hour periods, separated by an hour or so of warmup. After a week of this, their work time rose to an hour each time. After three weeks, IIRC, it was two hours, and so on, until after a month and a half of five 8 hour shifts/week, they could work an entire eight-hour shift (with short coffee breaks and a half hour lunch break) with no impairment. That's the good news. The bad news is that the acclimatization is lost a little faster than it is gained: after a week's layoff, the filleters could only do two hours of immersion (IIRC). I suspect the cold shower routine would work, but it would take many weeks to have the effect desired ... and you'd have to maintain that regimen. (Yuck!) Thirty years ago, when I did a lot of cold weather XC skiing and mountaineering, I noticed that my hands adapted to the cold after several successive weeks of 2- or 3-day trips/week, but not to the extent of the filleters' adaptation. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Mar 06 2001 - 07:49:14 PST
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