Your body's first reaction to a plunge in chilly water is the "cold shock" response. Your heart rate jumps. Stress hormones spike. You gasp suddenly, and may hyperventilate. Your reward if you stay in ...

If you live near a body of water in the northern latitudes, you likely have heard of your local polar bear club — usually made up of a group of hearty swimmers who take part in cold water swimming.

Riley Swortz, who's bobbing next to Nassal, says she revels in the moment her body stops recoiling from the shock. "There's a point where it's no longer cold anymore," she says, "This calm washes over ...

Whether it's once a year or once a week, more people are plunging into cold water for fun and health benefits. NPR spoke to researchers about what's true and what's not on this wellness trend.

"Any anxiety, anything I'm struggling with, it's gone and when I come out of the water — I've left it in the water," says Audrey Nassal during a recent Sunday morning dip at a Seattle beach. It's one ...

When Harper asked cold water swimmers in the U.K. what conditions they were using it for, "the vast majority came back saying mental health," he says. Though the evidence on mental health and mood ...