Feel cold if you dive lot?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

My girlfriend is Russian and has no problem swimming in cold water. As a result, I get to swim in colder water (under 20 degrees). And as a result of that, I am warmer while diving.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

When I got my ice cert was when the actual effects were explained. Heat loss is cumulative. Your core temp will drop over multiple dives. Especially on weeklong trips. I took my 3 mil to Bonaire and by the end of the week wanted my 5.
Depending on surface temp, how many calories you are taking in, surface interval times, and how rested you are it would be entirely possible to become hypothermic diving 85 degree water for a week straight if you did not give your body adequate time to get the core temp up.

 

[scubadada]

Over the years, I have adjusted my exposure protection, I hate being cold and it increases my gas consumption. I often dive 4 dives per day. I use my 3 mm down to the high 70s. I switch to my 5 mm between the low 70s and high 70s. I wear my 7 mm below the low 70s. I add a 5/3 mm hooded vest if I am ever cold with the wetsuit I've chosen. I'm often the only warm diver on the boat and it increases my enjoyment immensely. I also take my wonderful TruWest boat coat with me whenever the conditions dictate. Warm is wonderful...

 

[Kevrumbo]

People had told me that they needed more exposure protection if they dive more often -- at first I didn't believe it, now I am convinced. In fact, I find it to be true if I simply go in the pool several times a day.

Why is this?

Someone said it was because it lowers your body temperature but Im sure this is NOT true. I'm sure the body regulates its temperature very precisely.

Can someone explain the mechanism? My guess is that it's the brain trying to interpret the cold signals (heat loss) of repetitive immersion.

- Bill

The thermoregulation of the Human Body falls within a very narrow range of +/- 2 deg C from a nominal core temperafure of 37 deg C. Therefore with repeated immersions, it's simple physics and an intuitive biophysical reaction & explanation that you will get hypothermic if you don't initiate some obvious general and practical remedies to prevent core heat loss and/or to add heat to keep normal body temperature comfortably within this narrow homestatic range.

Depending upon circumstances, further heat loss can be prevented by replacing wet clothing with dry clothing (reducing heat loss via evaporation) --get out of your wet wetsuit on your surface inferval, or at least peel-off your wetsuit top & dry off your upper torso skin area, and put on a surf coat/parka or dry neoprene jacket. Find shelter from the wind (reducing heat loss via convection and evaporation), and insulate yourself from the water on repetitive dives with a thicker wetsuit (reducing heat loss via conduction). Your body can be heated by an external source, such as a space heater on a surface interval, or a battery powered wetsuit/drysuit heater during repetitive dives or long decompression stop profiles. . .

 

[TMHeimer]

I learned all this heat loss stuff as a kid. I noticed you get colder quicker when you go I for that second swim. I called it "my resistance is lower".
I have also found that your body adjusts over time to the local climate--ei.:
--Growing up in NY until age 23 I hated the cold water.
--Ages 23+ to 50 living in Northern Canada I came to like the cold and hate the 90F heat in NY summers when visiting. 3 months of minus 40 (C/F) will do that to you.
--Ages 50+-present (63) of living in Nova Scotia I gradually began feeling the cold again.

 

[J322Y]

This thread is good for me to read at this time.

People were teasing me a little the other day for wearing a 5 mm suit with full hood and gloves in 72º spring water. I didn't care really. Others mentioned being cold while I was just right after two 50 minute dives. I'd rather be warm than look macho.

 

[SeaHorse81]

Being cold really takes the joy out of diving. After all the training, practice, and trip expense, assuring that you're warm enough is the only rational choice.

 

[J322Y]

Being cold really takes the joy out of diving. After all the training, practice, and trip expense, assuring that you're warm enough is the only rational choice.

My thinking is to aim for being a little too warm, and let in some water if that happens. If I had to choose between being too cold or too warm I would choose too warm.

 

[kelemvor]

This thread is good for me to read at this time.

People were teasing me a little the other day for wearing a 5 mm suit with full hood and gloves in 72º spring water. I didn't care really. Others mentioned being cold while I was just right after two 50 minute dives. I'd rather be warm than look macho.

That's just silly. I had to switch to dry for diving more than a couple short dives a day in 72º spring water. Everyone I know who dives the springs in a wetsuit gets cold. Even those that layer.

 

[Lorenzoid]

That's just silly. I had to switch to dry for diving more than a couple short dives a day in 72º spring water. Everyone I know who dives the springs in a wetsuit gets cold. Even those that layer.

It all depends on time. We see swimmers frolicking in those springs, right? A 5mm with a hood, etc., is good for an hour dive, maybe a second dive. A 7mm or a 5+vest might get you through more. But if you spend more time than that in 72F water, it's drysuit time.