Cold Water Swimming May Ease Depression

Summary: A new case study reports swimming in cold, open water may help those with major depressive disorder to gain control of their symptoms and possibly live medication free.

Source: University of Portsmouth.

For the first time it has been shown open water swimming could be an effective treatment for depression.

A case study published in British Medical Journal Case Reports suggests open water swimming might help people with depression be able to give up their medication and live happier lives.

The study, led by television doctor Chris van Tulleken, of University College London, and co-authored by two University of Portsmouth scientists, highlights the case of a woman with severe anxiety and depression who once she began open water swimming, immediately started feeling better.

She continued to swim and, as the weeks went by, her symptoms of depression and anxiety faded to the point she was able to stop taking medication entirely.

Two years on, she remains drug-free, and she’s still swimming.

The study is the first to examine open water therapy to treat depression. The case was part of a television programme made by Dr. van Tulleken “The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs.”

He worked with Dr. Massey and Professor Tipton, a world leader in human physiology and particularly in how the human body reacts and behaves when cold. Both work in the University’s Department of Sports and Exercise Science’s extreme environment laboratory.

The case study follows Sarah, a 24-year-old woman with major depressive disorder and anxiety, for which she had been on medication since she was 17. When she became a mother, she was determined to to try and find a way of living without symptoms or drugs.

She began open-water swimming with Dr. van Tulleken and Dr. Massey, then continued once a week swimming with others. She saw an immediate improvement in her mood after each swim and, as the weeks went by, her symptoms lessened. She gradually eased off her medication until she no longer took any.

In a BBC report on the study, Dr. van Tulken said it had long been known outdoor exercise and the companionship of fellow swimmers can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety, but the Portsmouth team believed there might be an effect of cold water immersion itself.

a person swimming in a lake
The case study follows Sarah, a 24-year-old woman with major depressive disorder and anxiety, for which she had been on medication since she was 17. When she became a mother, she was determined to to try and find a way of living without symptoms or drugs. NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.

The report continues: Immersion in cold water evokes a stress response: a set of physiological and hormonal reactions that evolved millions of years ago to cope with a wide range of potential threats.

Animal attack, jumping in cold water and sitting an exam all elicit a similar response. Heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate all increase and stress hormones are released. But if you immerse yourself only a few times in water of 15C or less, this stress response is reduced.

Professor Tipton and Dr. Massey have shown that the response to the stress of exercising at altitude is also diminished. This is called “cross-adaptation,” where one form of stress adapts the body for another. There is increasing evidence linking depression and anxiety with the inflammation that accompanies a chronic stress response to the physical and psychological problems of modern life.

Through cross-adaptation, cold water swimming may be able to reduce this chronic stress response together with the inflammation and mental health problems that affect so many people.

About this neuroscience research article

Source: University of Portsmouth
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Open water swimming as a treatment for major depressive disorder” by Christoffer van Tulleken1, Michael Tipton, Heather Massey, and C Mark Harper in BMJ Case Reports. Published August 21 2018.
doi:10.1136/bcr-2018-225007

Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article

[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]University of Portsmouth”Cold Water Swimming May Ease Depression.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 14 September 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/swimming-depression-cold-9864/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]University of Portsmouth(2018, September 14). Cold Water Swimming May Ease Depression. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved September 14, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/swimming-depression-cold-9864/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]University of Portsmouth”Cold Water Swimming May Ease Depression.” https://neurosciencenews.com/swimming-depression-cold-9864/ (accessed September 14, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Open water swimming as a treatment for major depressive disorder

A 24-year-old woman with symptoms of major depressive disorder and anxiety had been treated for the condition since the age of 17. Symptoms were resistant to fluoxetine and then citalopram. Following the birth of her daughter, she wanted to be medication-free and symptom-free. A programme of weekly open (cold) water swimming was trialled. This led to an immediate improvement in mood following each swim and a sustained and gradual reduction in symptoms of depression, and consequently a reduction in, and then cessation of, medication. On follow-up a year later, she remains medication-free.

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