Regular Sea Baths: Why Are They So Beneficial?

Years pass and are not alike. While we live on , we welcomed 2 years ago to the day Michel Cymes and Adriana in the cold and between 2 showers to explain to them the benefits of sea bathing in cold water as part of the program “  The Extraordinary Powers of the Human Body . Even if we could have dreamed of warmer weather and clearer water, swimming with the Polar Bears was no less invigorating, and I was able to discuss with them the main reasons why these regular baths are a veritable fountain of youth with Lifeguard Course.

Why is regular sea bathing beneficial for health ?

We are talking here about sea bathing practiced regularly throughout the year. Whether it's sunny, rainy, windy, snowy… the concept is to swim by the sea with a simple swimsuit whatever the conditions. It is above all a swimming activity: you can splash around, do your aquagym or really swim in the water. But basically, there is no notion of competition: it is above all a question of having a good time in the water. We stay there for a few minutes: generally 1 minute per degree in winter (if the water is at 11°C, we stay 11 minutes), but some stay there longer depending on their bathing habit and their physical condition, always being careful to get out before the first signs of hypothermia .

By their vitality, their enthusiasm and their physical form, the members of the Ours Blancs de Biarritz club have always impressed me. I had even considered doing my medical thesis on the state of health of these swimmers (before finally opting for a thesis on surfing accidents ).

After joining the Ours Blancs club and experiencing for myself the benefits of cold water baths, in 2013 I launched a prospective study on the impact of regular sea bathing on health  : people who bathe in less than once a week on average throughout the year can participate in the study .

Here is a summary of the main lessons learned from the responses of the 85 people who joined the Bains de Mer et Santé study , the majority of whom swim year-round on the Basque Coast (in Biarritz or Saint-Jean-de-Luz), but also elsewhere along the Atlantic, the English Channel or the Mediterranean.

To speak in a colorful way, I would say that regular sea bathing has a positive effect on our mechanics , our pipes and our wiring : in fact, they relieve our joints, they promote blood circulation and they soothe our nerves.

The action on the joints is easy to understand: in seawater, we evolve in weightlessness with  Archimedes' thrust which divides our body weight by 10 when we are immersed up to the neck. The fact of practicing a “carried” activity makes it possible to mobilize the joints without traumatizing them. While among regular bathers, there are osteoarthritis patients suffering mainly from the knees, shoulders or back, 2/3 of the patients say their pain is improved by the bathshalf of whom feel "very clearly" improved in terms of their pain by the baths. Regular baths also help maintain a satisfactory body mass index for both women (BMI = 22.2) and men (BMI = 24.8). The fact of not being overweight is a factor that also prevents osteoarthritis pain. Of normal build, regular swimmers are not skinny: some keep a fatty layer which is welcome to withstand cold water when winter arrives.

Contrary to popular belief, baths are not bad for the heart, quite the contrary! We will see in detail how baths and swimming at a moderate pace have a positive effect on blood pressure and heart rate.

Regarding the impact on the psyche and the nervous system , one could say that the bath calms nervous tension. You have to have experienced this at least once to understand this mixture of appeasement, well-being and euphoria that you feel after a good bath. When the water is very cold, it can even become lethargic: you then feel a daze with a certain slowing down and a great calm after the bath.

Sea bathing has an antidepressant, euphoric and anxiolytic effect. 78% of regular bathers say that baths put them in a good mood, 56% that it stimulates them and 44% that it calms them down.

This effect lasts longer or shorter depending on the person. For 33% of respondents, the effect of the bath lasts about 6 hours, for 54% the beneficial effects are felt for 12 to 72 hours, and 12% say they feel good for a whole week after the bath.

Weaning can be painful for some who report feeling sad (39%), stressed (30%), irritable (28.5%) or slowed down (22%) when they cannot bathe for several days. . Only 1 regular bather out of 5 manages to do without baths without any problem.

Even if regular swimmers generally have a healthy lifestyle (90% do not smoke), practice at least one other physical activity (walking, cycling, gym, running or yoga) and are good at living (78% occasionally consume alcohol in moderation, especially wine), the fact remains that these regular sea baths bring them more for their health.

The corollary is the lower consumption of medication : 70% of swimmers do not take any at all, and 96% take less than 3 in total, despite an average age of 57 and 25% of swimmers over 65 year.