The benefits of winter sports on the cardiovascular system are still to be confirmed by researches. Through the statistical analysis of 37 nonprofessional athletes who have been engaged in winter swimming (CWS) for many years, along with the healthy controls, the general situation is recorded, as well as the laboratory examination of the body composition and the blood lipid. It is found that there are significant differences in homocysteine and ApoB/Apoa-1 ratio between the two groups, which show a downward trend in the CWS group; BMI index and BF% (body fat rate) in CWS group are significantly higher than those in the control group, showing a trend of overweight. The CWS group is divided into subgroups according to gender. It is found that the HDL level of female subjects is higher than that of men, and the ApoB/Apoa-1 ratio and the homocysteine level are lower than those of male subjects. Although the BMI index of female subjects is normal, the BF% is significantly higher than that of male subjects; In contrast, VATL (visceral adipose tissue level) and mm (muscle mass) are significantly lower than those in male subjects. Long term cold adaptation leads to the increase of the antioxidant capacity, better resistance to atherosclerosis, with reduced cardiovascular risk.

winter swimming  /  cardiovascular risk  /  atherosclerosis  /  lipoprotein