TAKE THE PLUNGE

It may sound crazy, but those who do it swear by it- and research shows that cold-water swimming indeed has plenty of health benefits

- LINDSAY DE FREITAS

THOSE who do it say it’s life-changing. Once you push through the discomfort, they say, the reward is more than worth it.

That was certainly the case for Dr Leila Sadien, who decided to brave the cold ocean waters at Bakoven beach in Cape Town towards the end of 2020. “There was just an incredible sense of euphoria after the pain of the cold wore off,” she says.

The exhilaration of the experience made her go back and do it again the very next day. And every day after that for the next two weeks.

“After about a week I noticed that my skin was firmer and I felt lighter. I felt happier and had a more consistent energy through the day. The time it took to settle into the cold had dramatically reduced – I could get all the way in much faster and would no longer feel muscle spasms in response to the cold.”

Leila’s partner is a surfer and he’d regularly go for a quick surf before work or even at night. “I’d sit on the beach and watch him from the safety and warmth of a blanket. Then one day I decided I didn’t want to limit my joy because I was afraid of the cold.

“I made a commitment to go into the sea for a few seconds every day and slowly increase my tolerance to reach 10 minutes.

“Over time I noticed I had a massively increased tolerance to cold. In winter I no longer slept with an extra blanket, I wore fewer layers and in summer I would need to sleep with a window open.”

For journalist Pieter van Zyl, swimming in the cold Atlantic Ocean was a way to deal with the effects of the dark days of SA’s hard lockdown. During the early months of the pandemic he’d stare at the ocean from his apartment opposite Sea Point promenade in Cape Town.