“Preparation is more useful”: the doctor told what you need to know about swimming in the hole

Every year on January 19, on one of the most revered Orthodox holidays, on Epiphany, Christians plunge into the hole.

On this day, John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the sacred waters of the Jordan River.

Although the air temperature in the Holy Land on this day is much higher than in Russia, the tradition of plunging into Epiphany frosts is quite popular among our compatriots.

RT spoke with a pulmonologist at the University Clinical Hospital No. 3 of Sechenov University Larisa Akulkina and found out how healthy this procedure is.

- Who should, and who should not plunge into the hole?

- It is worth dipping for those who have previously systematically hardened, that is, prepared their body for exposure to extremely low temperatures.

This is a fundamentally important point, and only then it will be safe.

If a person has not tempered himself in any way, does not tolerate cold very well, has chronic diseases of the respiratory tract, the cardiovascular system, and decided to plunge into an ice hole at Baptism, this can give side effects of varying severity.

- How to prepare properly?

When should you start?

- At least two or three months in advance, a person should start pouring water at a temperature of 30 ° C and gradually, every three to five days, reduce the temperature by one or two degrees.

But people are different.

It must be borne in mind: the worse a person tolerates the cold, the more slowly he must get used to it.

- Is it worth it to plunge headlong?

- In general, if a person does not have chronic diseases of the middle ear, there are no diseases of the paranasal sinuses, then it is possible.

He will not swim under water for 5-10 minutes.

Simply closing your nose and taking a dip is generally safe.

“They say you don’t have to be in the water for more than a minute, right?”

— Yes, the impact of such an extremely low temperature should be short-lived.

- What clothes should you wear?

“There is no point in putting on a lot of clothes.

Therefore, you should dip in something that can be removed easily and as quickly as possible in order to reduce the time spent in these wet clothes.

How should you go into the water, fast or slow?

- You won't be able to go very slowly anyway.

In addition, if you slowly reduce body temperature, hypothermia can quickly set in.

So if a person has been tempered before, then he can immediately go in, without any preliminary preparation.

- How should you go out?

How to dress?

They say the first thing you need to do is put on your shoes.

- First of all, a person throws a towel over his shoulders or puts on slippers, it’s not so important.

The main thing is to quickly get into a warm room, take off wet clothes, wipe yourself dry, put on clean clothes, socks, warm shoes and drink a hot drink to warm up faster.

- About drinking: it’s clear why they say that you can’t drink alcohol before swimming in Jordan, and why you can’t warm yourself with alcohol after?

- Alcohol does not have a very good effect on the perception of cold by a person.

If he drinks an alcoholic drink, the vessels of the skin dilate and create such an artificial sensation of warmth.

At this point, a person can lose the amount of heat and will not feel that he is overcooled.

Alcohol dulls the sensation of cold, so it seems to a person that he is warm, dressed warmly after the procedure, but in fact he is not.

And he can get cold and sick.

- What is useful

- The benefit is not in this particular short dipping interval, but in general in the hardening procedure.

This does not significantly reduce the frequency of colds, but it has a beneficial effect on the state of the respiratory system, on the state of the cardiovascular system, one might say, it trains it.

In general, swimming in an ice hole improves well-being and mood.

But the effect is only with a systematic approach, repeated.

If a person did nothing for a whole year, and then went and plunged into water with a temperature of 0 ° C for a minute, there will obviously be little benefit, but you can get harm.

- Many doctors say that after swimming in an ice hole, a person can worsen chronic diseases, have a heart attack and die.

Maybe your colleagues told about similar cases?

- Unfortunately yes.

There may be some acute manifestations.

This is a strong stress for the body, and it can provoke violations of cerebral circulation and blood circulation of the heart.

In a person with a disease of the nervous system, this can cause convulsions.

There is a general concept of cold shock as the impact of sharp low extreme temperatures.

It can also be long-term effects - that is, a person plunged, everything is fine, and after a week he became ill.

It can be pneumonia, exacerbation of chronic bronchitis.

Not all side effects of unprepared dipping are immediately visible.

That is, to count on a chance that, now, it will carry me through and everything will be fine with me - this does not always work, because you can not react in time or not have time to help a person.

Are there any secret statistics?

It is clear that the cause of death "dipping into the hole" will not be officially recorded anywhere.

Unfortunately, there are no such statistics.

No one is informal either.

Such cases are described, and there is no reason not to believe them.

For example, a smoker has chronic bronchitis, and such hypothermia can provoke an exacerbation.

Or a person with epilepsy and occasional seizures.

Any extreme exposure, including overheating or hypothermia, can cause another attack.

Or maybe not, of course.

No statistics are kept and there is no boundary temperature value that everything will be fine at 0 ° C, and everything will be bad at -2 ° C. 

— What can you say about the places for swimming?

There were many cases last year when people cut the ice themselves, dived, and then they were carried away by the undercurrent.

- Unfortunately yes.

This is not uncommon.

I am a doctor, not a specialist of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but in general I know that there are flowing reservoirs and, if there is an active current under the ice, a person can be carried away in a split second.

Naturally, you need to dive in some prepared, approved areas.

This is also important because, in addition to therapeutic diseases, there are also various injuries that can be received, and then the help of not only a therapist, but also a surgeon will be needed.

- Do you dive yourself?

How do you feel about this practice?

- No, I don’t dip myself, I temper myself.

Thanks to this, I can now safely walk between the hospital buildings in a conventional therapeutic suit.

But I don’t dip, because I just don’t like this tradition.

- Are there any other things, without diving into the ice hole, that can replace swimming in ice water?

What can people do who really want to do something for the benefit of the body, and not just prove to themselves - “I can”?

- The alternative is classic hardening.

Wiping with a cold towel, dousing with water, a contrast shower are procedures that have a positive effect and are used to prepare before swimming in an ice hole.

That is, the point is that the stage of preparation for dipping into an ice hole is more useful than the very fact that a person climbed into ice water once.

There will be little sense for health in a single bath in the hole as a disease prevention.