A mate messaged me on Instagram the other day asking why I go in the sea every morning. I told him I didn’t need to write War & Peace: The Sea Edition — I could sum it up in three words:
“Because I can.”
That answer is actually pretty accurate. When you live about 100 metres from the sea in a sleepy seaside town like Deal, jumping in the water each morning at 5am (yes that's 5 am ) becomes less of a heroic act and more of a slightly mad daily habit. But for the sake of clarity — and in case you’ve got nothing better to do today than read blogs by second-rate yoga teachers in seaside towns — I’ll flesh it out a bit.
How It Started
Like many people during lockdown, my sleep went completely sideways. Bad sleep plus two kids with an apparently unlimited capacity for shouting is not a great combination. Something had to give.
At some point I started ending my showers with cold water. I honestly can’t remember where the idea came from. I’m fairly sure it had nothing to do with the Dutch cold-water evangelist Wim Hof, although he’s now the poster boy for the whole thing.
But something interesting happened.
Those cold showers worked. They woke me up properly, improved my mood, and gave me a surprising sense of calm afterwards. What began as a “don’t lose my mind today” strategy slowly turned into a daily ritual.
Then it evolved again.
From Cold Showers to the Sea
When you live close enough to the sea that it’s basically at the end of your street, cold showers start to feel like the warm-up act. So the daily cold rinse became a daily dip.
To begin with, it was — unsurprisingly — absolutely freezing. The English Channel in winter is not exactly tropical. But there’s something about standing in the sea at sunrise that makes the temperature almost irrelevant.
Almost.
The sky turns ridiculous colours, the town is quiet, and for a few minutes the world becomes very simple. Which brings me to the real reason I keep doing it.
What Cold Water Does to the Body
There’s now quite a bit of science behind cold water immersion.
When you enter cold water your body goes into what’s known as the cold shock response. Your breathing speeds up, your heart rate increases, and your body releases stress hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline.
It sounds dramatic, but in controlled doses it can actually be beneficial.
Regular cold water exposure has been linked to:
- Improved mood due to increased endorphins and dopamine
- Reduced inflammation and quicker muscle recovery
- Improved circulation, as blood vessels constrict and dilate
- A stronger immune response in some studies
- Better stress resilience, as the nervous system learns to handle short bursts of discomfort
In simple terms, your body gets better at adapting to stress.
Which is quite handy in modern life.
But interestingly, those physical benefits are almost a side effect.
What Cold Water Does to the Mind
The real magic is mental.
I watched a documentary recently about David Crosby from Crosby, Stills & Nash. After getting kicked out of The Byrds in the 60s, he bought a boat and went sailing. When he described what being at sea felt like, it perfectly captured the experience.
He said something like:
When you're on land there's constant information for your brain to process — traffic, people, noise, shopping, responsibilities. But when you're on the ocean there's just the sea and the sky.
And that’s it.
That’s the whole thing.
When you’re standing in the water watching the sunrise, there’s nothing to manage, nothing to organise, nothing to fix. Just sea, sky, breath, and the occasional seagull judging your life choices.
Your brain finally gets a break.
Why I Keep Going Back
So yes, there are physiological benefits. Cold exposure can boost mood, improve resilience, and wake you up better than coffee.
But honestly, the real reason I keep doing it is much simpler.
For a few minutes each morning the world becomes very quiet.
And also — I’m Pisces.
Which probably helps.
And if this whole thing keeps up much longer, I may need to reinvent myself as Deal’s answer to Wim Hof.
You heard it here first.
Dim Hoff.
