Swimmers brave cold lake to help fight depression

The swimmers are taking part in a study exploring whether swimming helps with depression and anxiety

On a cold morning in November, a group of swimmers in Berkshire took to the water wearing special gloves and costumes.

Pulling tow floats behind them, about a half a dozen braved Bray Lake, near Maidenhead, as part of the Blue Space Project.

It is part of a national study that has recruited 480 adults with experience of mild to moderate depression to see if swimming can lead to a reduction in depression and anxiety.

Participant Dom Neil Dwyer said: "I tried lots of different things, from medication to therapy to diet and I heard about cold water swimming and I was really desperate.

"Since then I have not looked back. I have swum through the winter, in the ice, and it's been amazing."

The water was too cold for people who had not swum in similar temperatures before to have a first go

The Blue Space Project is one of 17 across England and Wales that are working with researchers on the study.

Mr Dwyer said: "After a swim you feel amazing but after you do it several times you really feel like you build up a resilience; you feel more self-confident."

At the time of the swim, the air temperature was -1C, the water temperature 8.8C, and swimmers stayed in the lake for about 10 minutes.

At 8.8C the water temperature was too cold for people without any experience of it to take the plunge.

Carine Evans, who runs the project, is working with the University of Portsmouth on the study.

She said it delivered both physical and mental health benefits, to the extent that just getting into the water for the first time was positive.

"Making yourself do something that you know is going to be really uncomfortable is actually really good for us – for our mental health, our confidence," she said.

"We're pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and we are also getting used to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

"That's a very good transferable skill that we can use in other areas of our lives.

"We have a really lovely community of swimmers and community is a really important part of open water swimming."