Re: [Paddlewise] Cold water adaptation - Part II

From: Alex Ferguson <a.ferguson_at_chem.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 09:09:50 +1200
[Joe P]
At 10:27 am 18/03/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>Does the same type of adaptation, when applied to your whole body, have the
>potential to delay the onset of hypothermia?
>In other words:
>Can one increase their actual resistance to cold water through repeated
>controlled exposure?
>  No.
>  Loss of body heat is inherent in the physics of the situation.

Interesting that this should come up now. I caught a short programme on TV. 
A woman recently went to the Antarctic to be the first to swim a mile 
there. She had a swim on the way there at the South Shetlands where she had 
problems with the cold water though it wasn't as cold as she was going to 
swim in. She had mild hypothermia. During the mile swim she asked if she 
was there at about the halfway point and it was thought that she wouldn't 
make it. However she got her "second wind'" and finished the swim in better 
condition than the previous shorter swim in warmer (relatively) water. She 
was wearing a standard bathing suit, nothing else, no fat, no Vaseline etc.

Part of it appears to be psychological and partly a good even fat layer.

Alex



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Received on Tue Mar 18 2003 - 13:10:49 PST

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