Going through perimenopause? Take a cold-water plunge
Women are going for an outdoor swim in cold water to relieve their menstrual and perimenopausal symptoms—and according to one survey, it works.
The women have said that the severity of typical symptoms, such as hot flushes, anxiety, mood swings and brain fog, has halved after a dip in freezing water. Although the women reported immediate improvement in symptoms when they entered the water, those who were regular cold-water swimmers saw the greatest longterm benefit.
They are among a group of 1,114 women, about two-thirds of them between the ages of 45 and 59 years, who have been part of a women’s health survey carried out by researchers from University College London. Of these, 785 were going through perimenopause—the time of hormonal fluctuation leading to menopause—and 63 percent were cold-water swimming specifically for symptom relief.
Around 47 percent of the swimmers said they felt less anxiety after swimming, and 35 percent reported fewer mood swings. Around 30 percent had fewer hot flushes.
Other benefits included being outside, improving mental health and exercising. The study also found cold-water swimming improved menstrual symptoms in over a third of the women.
The women described swimming as “an immediate stress/anxiety reliever,” and one 57-year-old said,
