Chill: The Cold Water Swim CureA Transformative Guide to Renew Your Body and Mind
By (Author) Mark Harper
Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books
4th August 2022
4th August 2022
United States
General
Non Fiction
613.716
Paperback
256
Width 229mm, Height 152mm
The belief that swimming in cold water can improve one's health is hardly new. For centuries, people from all over the world have reported that immersing themselves in cold water alleviates their pain and improves their overall well-being. Even Katharine Hepburn famously claimed to treat her winter colds by swimming in the icy waters of the Pacific Ocean. But until now, the practice has been treated lightly by the scientific community, the curative effects all but dismissed by doctors seeking medicine-centred solutions for their patients' illnesses.
In Chill, expert anaesthetist and researcher Dr. Mark Harper delivers long-awaited evidence that cold-water swimming can, in fact, achieve powerful, tangible health benefits. Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with case studies, laboratory results, and stories from the lives of patients, Dr. Harper illuminates the ways in which cold water can impacts us physiologically and mentally, alleviating conditions like:
Dr. Mark Harper, MD, PhD, is a consultant anaesthetist at Brighton and Sussex University and a leading expert in the prevention of hypothermia in surgical patients. He serves as an expert adviser to organisations studying the therapeutic uses of cold-water adaptation and open-water swimming, and his work studying the mental-health benefits of cold-water immersion was featured in the BBC documentary The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs. Dr. Harper is a co-creator of Chill UK, a nonprofit committed to improving access to cold-water swimming for those who suffer from anxiety and depression. He lives in England.