冬季“野外游泳”是一个热门的新趋势

Swimmers plunge into frigid lakes and rivers year-round, just for the thrill of it.

游泳者全年都跳进寒冷的湖泊和河流，只是为了享受其中的刺激。

I thought my husband's icy cold morning showers were extreme, until I learned about the 'wild swimming' trend. Apparently this is a big thing ago to do year-round, particularly in the United Kingdom, where you don't have to chop a hole in the ice to get at the water, but it's still chilly enough to take your breath away.

我认为我丈夫早上冲的冰冷的淋浴是极端的，直到我了解到“野生游泳”的流行趋势。显然，这已经是一件全年都要做的大事了，尤其是在英国，在那里你不必在冰上凿一个洞才能到水里，但那里仍然冷得让你喘不过气来。

The Guardian has called wild swimming the "new natural high" and "the new yoga." Over the past decade, membership in outdoor swimming groups has grown exponentially, with the UK's Outdoor Swimming Society membership growing from a couple hundred people ten years ago to more than 70,000 in 2017.

《卫报》将野生游泳称为“新的自然高潮”和“新的瑜伽”。在过去的十年里，户外游泳团体的会员呈指数级增长，英国户外游泳协会的会员从十年前的几百人增长到2017年的7万多人。

CC BY 2.0. Ernest Duffoo

Now it's downright trendy to go for dips wherever you may find open water, particularly if you can document it on Instagram. Travel writer Sarah Stirling set a goal of ticking off 50 freshwater swim spots in Snowdonia, a breathtaking mountainous and glacial region of northwestern Wales. She did it, and the pictures are shiver-inducing proof.

现在，只要你能找到开阔的水域，就可以去潜水，这是一种彻头彻尾的潮流，尤其是如果你能在Instagram上记录下来的话。旅游作家萨拉·斯特林设定了一个目标，要在斯诺多尼亚划出50个淡水游泳点。斯诺多尼亚位于威尔士西北部，是一个令人叹为观止的多山冰川地区。是她干的，这些照片就是令人毛骨悚然的证据。

Ella Foote, a spokesperson for the Outdoor Swimming Society in England and founder of the self-explanatory 'Dip A Day December' challenge, said frustration with indoor pools is driving the shift toward wild swimming:

英国户外游泳协会的发言人、“12月一天泡澡”挑战的创始人艾拉·福特说，人们对室内泳池的失望正促使人们转向野外游泳:

"There are so many rules and you don’t get the magic of the outdoors. Plus, cold water has so many health benefits – it improves your mood, increases blood circulation, it helps with muscular pain."

“有这么多的规则，你无法感受到户外的魔力。另外，冷水对健康有很多好处——它能改善情绪，促进血液循环，还能缓解肌肉疼痛。”

Indeed, I've written before about the many benefits of cold showers – anti-depressant, good for skin and hair, improves athletic performance, builds mental strength – so I can only imagine that those qualities, and the whole experience, are augmented by submerging oneself fully in a wilderness setting.

事实上，我以前写过关于冷水浴的许多好处——抗抑郁，对皮肤和头发有好处，提高运动成绩，增强精神力量——所以我只能想象那些品质，以及所有的经验，都是通过把自己完全沉浸在荒野环境中来增强的。

© K Martinko -- The site of a polar plunge in Ontario, Canada, that my husband participated in last winter.

Mark Harper, who swims with the Brighton swim club, describes it as "bloody cold getting in but you become addicted to the effects of it – you feel great and buzzy all day."

在布莱顿游泳俱乐部游泳的马克·哈珀形容这种活动为:“一进去就会很冷，但你会对它上瘾——你会感觉很好，一整天都神清气爽。”

If this appeals to you, the experts have a few tips. Wear flip-flops or neoprene shoes to insulate your feet from the ground. Wear goggles and a hat if it's really cold. Bring a robe that you can put on as soon as you get out of the water. Opinions seem fairly united against wetsuits, which, in the words of Channel swimmer Ben Alden-Falcone, "kills a key joy of cold-water swimming – the freedom." He recommends ear plugs instead and acclimatizing your body to the water by submerging your feet for a few minutes beforehand.

如果这对你有吸引力，专家有一些建议。穿人字拖或氯丁橡胶鞋，把脚和地面隔开。如果真的很冷的话，戴上护目镜和帽子。带一件你一出水就可以穿上的浴袍。反对潜水服的意见似乎相当一致，用英吉利海峡游泳者本•奥尔登-法尔科恩的话来说，“它扼杀了冷水游泳的一大乐趣——自由。”他建议用耳塞代替，并在潜水前将双脚浸入水中几分钟，让身体适应水中的环境。