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While the rest of us are bleary-eyed and horizontal on New Year’s Day, 56-year-old Tom “Iceman” McGann of Brooklyn, N.Y., plans to charge into the frigid Atlantic Ocean wearing nothing but a bathing suit. McGann and hundreds of other (totally insane) people will gather at the boardwalk on Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Plunge. It’s one of many similar dips taking place on New Year’s Day and throughout the winter. Most raise money for charity, and most usually draw plenty of “are they crazy?” media coverage.
Immersing your scantily-clad body in ice-cold water may give you serious bragging rights. But does it pose any risks -- or offer any benefits -- for your health? The Finns (and Norwegians, and Russians) sure think so. All over Northern Europe, folks like to finish off a stint in the sauna with a plunge in any icy lake, touting the benefits the cold water has on the immune system, the complexion --even the libido.
Dr. Alan Steinman, one of the country’s foremost experts on hypothermia and cold-water survival, is dubious about those claims. “I don’t know of any definitive medical studies that have been done to measure the health benefits of cold-water swimming,” he says.
What’s more, plunging into cold water has some real risks, says Steinman, who served as the Coast Guard’s director of health and safety from 1993 to 1997. When the body is suddenly immersed in icy water, there’s a sudden gasp, an inhalation, rapid breathing and the inability to hold your breath, “which can be a problem if your head’s underwater,” he says. For that reason, it’s better to “plunge” gradually, from shallow water, and not off a dock or a boardwalk.
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