Degrees of Health

Professor Mike Tipon MBE, MSc, PhD | Cold Water Immersion: Kill or Cure?

Jan 24, 2024

01:08:13

Head of the extreme environments lab at Portsmouth University, Professor Mike Tipton MBE has spent his working life understanding, evaluating and enhancing the comfort, performance and survival of human beings in extreme environments. With decades of knowledge gained in the lab, the aim is to apply the science to areas where it has most use and benefit. Having worked with the likes of the Ministry of Defence, RNLI and Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Mike is well-positioned to speak to the scientific and practical sides of the human response to cold water immersion.

Critically, he clarifies what we don’t yet know, and what we need to be aware of in the time frame between now and finding out. We discuss what happens and why, the benefits and risks of both unintentional and intentional immersion, common mistakes about cold water, what he calls ‘the thermostatic human’, and ultimately, his faith in the resilience of human beings.

Anglers, coastal walkers, yacht sailors, dinghy sailors, kayakers, open water or wild swimmers - pretty much anyone who operates or interacts by, under, or on the sea - there is an ocean of critical information to learn in this episode. It is applied science at the top of its game.

Find Mike:

University of Portsmouth website

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Mentioned in this podcast:

Non-freezing cold injury

Cold shock response

Mammalian dive reflex

Autonomic conflict

Lewis Pugh

Studies mentioned in this podcast:

Humans: A homeothermic animal that needs perturbation

Cold water immersion: kill or cure?