Almost everyone can swim in the winter, but if you have cardiovascular disease, talk to your doctor first. Because blood pressure goes up as you go down into the water. Doctors do not recommend anyone with constant high blood pressure to swim in winter baths. But if you have it temporarily and it is not too high, for example because of work or a divorce, winter bathing can actually lower blood pressure.
No clear health effects
There are only scattered studies done on the effect of winter swimming. Finnish teacher Pirkko Huttunen says that winter bathing seems to be able to relieve pain and inflammation in rheumatics. And that bathing makes people happier, reduces tension, stress, fatigue and pain.
The association "Darkness and the cool friends of the cold" in Skellefteå organizes the Scandinavian Championships in Wintersim every winter. Now they have launched an EU project to gather research into the effects of winter bathing and create a knowledge base.