By STEPHEN WADE, Associated Press

Dr. Mark Harper recalls his first cold-water swim in the south of England 20 years ago. It was August, but the initial jolt from the plunge took his breath away.

The shock to his system lasted a minute or two until he was “recombobulated and able to think about something other than the cold,” Harper says. A surprise sensation soon replaced his discomfort.

“I remember getting out of the water the first time and feeling so good,” Harper, an anesthesiologist who has since researched the potential risks and rewards of taking a nippy dunk . “I wasn’t expecting that.”

FILE – Revelers enter the cold water during the annual Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s Day, Jan. 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, file)

Claims about the benefits of cold-wa

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