Is Swimming In 60 Degree Water Possible?

Swimming in cold water is not something most people consider a fun outing! But if you need to dunk yourself in chilly water, how cold is too cold for swimming? Is swimming in 60-degree water possible, or should you rather sit on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate?

Swimming in 60-degree water is possible for a short amount of time. Unprotected, the maximum time would be about 30-minutes before cramps and other complications set in. If you have protective clothing such as a wetsuit, you can swim for longer in cold water.

Swimming in cold water holds many challenges and can affect people differently. Before you take the plunge into frosty waters, you need to understand the potential risks of swimming in 60-degree water and what you can do to extend your time in the water at this temperature.

What Does Cold Water Do To The Body?

For those swimmers who have undergone any scuba diving training, you will remember from your course that water below 69.8° Fahrenheit is considered to be medically cold water. This means that water colder than 69° F will have adverse effects on the human body - from the physical to the mental. The colder the water temperature is, the faster the effects will happen.

But really, even water below 77° F will affect your breathing. This is why pools for competition swimmers, such as pools for the Olympic games, are heated to between 77° F and 82° F. The higher temperature, the less of an effect on the athletes’ breathing capability.

As the water gets colder, there are more and more water affects the body:

_{from the National Center for Cold Water Safety}

As we can see by this data, 60-degree water is the borderline between dangerous and very dangerous water temperatures.

Cold shock is uncontrollable hyperventilation or gasping in reaction to the cold water. Cold water affects people differently, and some people can experience cold shock even in 60-degree water. If you plunge into cold water, you could have this involuntary reaction while your face is underwater. Consequently, you could take in lungfuls of water and drown.

Cold shock also results in a loss of control over your normal breathing rhythms, and breathing can be erratic. This can affect cognitive functions and cause people to make dangerous decisions unwittingly or lose the ability to focus.

People who are used to swimming in cold water will have more tolerance for the cold and will experience these consequences to a lesser degree. However, they will not be able to tolerate the cold water unprotected for long periods.

How Long Can You Swim In 60-Degree water?

The amount of time that you can tolerate the effects of 60-degree water will depend on your experience in cold water and the protection you have.

Your physique will also play a role in how quickly the cold water will affect your body. People with a little extra body fat will withstand the colder water for longer because of the insulating layer of the fat. A small reason to keep putting off that diet!

As we have already indicated, breathing can become affected immediately in 60-degree water, but the longer you are in the water, the more adverse effects will emerge. Within 20 to 30-minutes, you could begin to experience cramping from the cold water.

The cramps are most likely to start in your legs or feet, which will inhibit your ability to swim effectively. After 30 to 40-minutes, you will begin to lose dexterity and coordination in hand and figure movements.

These cold-water symptoms will get worse the longer you stay in the water. If you stay in the water for longer than 1-hour, extreme fatigue will begin to set in, which can further complicate your condition.

The estimated maximum time that a person can survive unprotected in 60-degree water is about 2-hours.

Wetsuit

A wetsuit can be a game-changer in water this cold. A wetsuit traps a layer of water between the wetsuit and your skin. Your body heats up this thin layer of water, and it acts as an insulator between you and the chilly water outside the suit.

To improve your protection against the cold even more, a wetsuit hoodie and boots are recommended. We lose much of our heat through our heads, so a hoodie will help to limit the loss of body heat via your head. The boots will protect your feet and help slow the onset of cramps in your feet from the cold water.

As reported by the National Center For Cold Water Safety, you should not be swimming in 60-degree water without a wetsuit. A drysuit is even recommended for swimming in water temperatures below 60-degrees.

How To Survive Without A Wetsuit

Swimming in 60-degree water is not recommended if you are unprotected by a wetsuit. However, if you have no option, you can do a couple of things to minimize the risk.

You can train your body and acclimatize to cold water swimming. This is a gradual process of repeated exposure to cold water for longer and longer periods. This trains your body to become accustomed to the cold water, and it protects itself by constricting all the blood vessels close to the skin to retain heat in your core.

Repeated exposure to cold water also causes the body to adapt and reduce the shiver response that can make swimming impossible.

These conditions are pushing the limits of cold-water tolerance for humans. People who swim in 60-degree water need to pay close attention to what their body is telling them and exit the water and re-warm as soon as they notice changes in their body response.

Even if you have trained your body to suppress its natural reactions to cold water, you are still operating at the fringes of what the human body can bear.

Conclusion

Swimming in 60-degree water is possible, but only with caution and for short periods. The maximum time you should expose yourself to water at this temperature is 30-minutes without protection.

If you have a wetsuit, you can extend this time for up to 1-hour, but you will eventually feel the cold through the wetsuit.

So while it is possible to swim in 60-degree water, I think I would rather opt for the hot chocolate on the couch!