Habitual cold-water swimming and upper respiratory tract infection
Volume: 59 - Issue: 5
First page: 485 - Last page: 487
N. Collier - M. Lomax - M. Harper - M. Tipton - H. Massey
It has long been claimed that non-wetsuit cold water swimming (CWS) benefits health (1), and anecdotally cold-water swimmers claimed to suffer fewer and milder infections, though this was not directly measured. A boost to immunity is biologically plausible: stress hormones are released during cold-water immersion (2), and short-term stress may ready the immune system for injury or infection (3). However, very few studies have investigated immune system markers and/or actual illness in habitual cold-water swimmers.
Rhinology 59-5: 485-487, 2021
To see the issue content and the abstract you do not have to login
Please login to download the full articles
If you do not have a subscription to Rhinology please consider taking one.
