New Study Links Cold-Water Swimming With Increased Stroke Risk

4th February 2016

#Swimming - You might think twice about that dip at the Forty Foot after new research identified a link between swimming in cold water and an increased risk of strokes.

Finnish news website YLE reports on the study by Chinese scientists who followed the habits of 900 members of a winter swimming club over a 30-year period.

And their results indicate a 10% higher risk of heart attacks ad strokes among the swimmers compared to the general population.

"This [study] emphasises the ill-effects of cold, which are well-known," said Prof Hannu Rintamäki of the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health. "Longer-term exposure to cold brings these kinds of results, ie that heart and circulation becomes heavier in cold water."

YLE has more on the story HERE.

Published in Sea Swim

Tagged under

About The Author

MacDara Conroy

Email The Author

MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

We've got a favour to ask

More people are reading Afloat.ie than ever thanks to the power of the internet but we're in stormy seas because advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news sites, we haven’t put up a paywall because we want to keep our marine journalism open.

Afloat.ie is Ireland's only full–time marine journalism team and it takes time, money and hard work to produce our content.

So you can see why we need to ask for your help.

If everyone chipped in, we can enhance our coverage and our future would be more secure. You can help us through a small donation. Thank you.