On this cold Saturday morning in December, the sun finally pushes through the cloudy Berlin cloud layer again. It’s cold, the weather app reports two degrees. Marina Hunger and Jens Glinzig find the best bathing weather. They go swimming in the lake today, just like they do every weekend. Not even though it’s cold. But because of that.
The meeting now at a lake in the east of the city is an exception. The two belong to the Berlin seals, an association that cultivates winter bathing. In the cold half of the year, the club members usually meet every Sunday morning at the Orankesee lido. It starts in mid-September when the temperatures are still mild.
In the dead of winter they have to pick up an ax to hack a hole in the frozen lake to bathe. On Saturday the first flakes fell briefly in Berlin. At the end of April, the bathing season is over for the seals – then they leave the bathing area to the warm bathers. The association has existed since 1980 and currently has around 130 members.
But now it’s Corona, the baths are closed and meetings with many people are not possible. Jens Glinzig and Marina Hunger still don’t want to go without their bathroom. “I need that,” says Marina Hunger.
The 64-year-old teacher has been with the seals since 1993. When asked what she is looking for in the cold, she replies: “I am waiting for my body to say ‘Om’.”
[Alle aktuellen Nachrichten live auf Ihr Handy mit unserer runderneuerten App für Apple- und Android-Geräte.]
Jens Glinzig is chairman of the board and one of the men and women who accompany winter bathing as lifeguards – that is a duty for the association. The 58-year-old has been swimming outdoors regularly for a long time. The year he discovered winter bathing, he just didn’t stop, not even when it got colder. “At some point I cracked the ten-degree mark,” he says.
Marina Hunger has not been sick in years
While the strollers trudge past them, thickly wrapped in jackets, hats and scarves, Marina Hunger and Jens Glinzig undress on the bank. The Berlin seals actually rely on nudism – but only when they are among themselves. Here, on the busy lake, they wear bathing suits and trunks.
The winter bathers have very different strategies for dealing with the cold water. Some dive in briefly, but several times in a row. Others only go in once, but longer. Jens Glinzig always goes into the lake with a hat and neoprene shoes.
They all agree on how to get into the water: Don’t be too slow, otherwise you will lose heart. But not too fast either, that could overwhelm the body. “Quickly, but not hastily,” says Jens Glinzig.
Which parts of the body are particularly sensitive to cold?
So they wade into this winter water, which should probably be around two degrees – they don’t know for sure. When the water reaches their shoulders, they stop and chat a little.
They do not submerge their heads. Jens Glinzig also makes sure that his hands stay above the water. Surprisingly, they are among the body parts that are particularly sensitive to cold.
Tips for newbies: Don’t rush anything
- Attention: Anyone interested in winter bathing should start carefully.
- Slowly: It is best to start in the warmer season and then get used to the colder temperatures week after week.
- Shower training: Alternating showers can also be good preparation. In general, winter bathing is only recommended for healthy people.
- Take care of your heart: The ice-cold water can be particularly dangerous for people with cardiovascular problems.
- Quick in and out: Beginners should only go into the water briefly and quickly dry off and get dressed after the bath.
- Never alone: This is very important – please always be with someone for winter bathing.
After a few minutes they come out again. Her skin has turned cancerous red all over her body. Without hurry, they slip into their bathrobes. A walker looks at the two in admiration and says “Hats off”.
“It all happens in the head”
It’s not that they don’t mind the cold. Even after many years they fight. “It all happens in your head,” says Jens Glinzig. “When you have overcome yourself, you feel a strong feeling of happiness.”
And Marina Hunger says: “When I get into the water, my body asks first: ‘What am I doing here?’ But then I take a deep breath and dive in. And the longer I stay inside, the more my body comes to rest. ”
One trend: winter bathing in Berlin, Brandenburg and around the world
It is a calm that extends well beyond the moment in the water: “Nothing throws me off course so quickly.” On this day, Marina Hunger is in the water for a significantly shorter time than usual.
If she bathes with the other seals, she stays in the lake for up to 15 minutes. But that is only possible because she has had years of training, she emphasizes. She strongly advises beginners not to stay in the water that long.
The quiet, the feelings of happiness – from the winter bathers’ point of view, there are also very pragmatic reasons for their cool hobby. Jens Glinzig is convinced that a common cold only lasts half as long for a seal as for other people.
Marina Hunger says she has not been sick in years. From a scientific point of view, the question of whether the extreme cold strengthens the immune system and helps against colds does not seem to have been conclusively clarified. “There is not a single study that has ever proven this,” “Die Zeit” quotes an immunologist in an article about winter bathing.
[Mehr aus der Hauptstadt, der Region, zu Politik, Gesellschaft und mehr Nützliches für Sie mit Tagesspiegel Plus: Jetzt 30 Tage kostenlos testen.]
For many people, the Berlin winter is a phase that you have to endure, the cold a necessary evil – especially now in this Corona year, in which meetings with friends and family are inevitably moved outside. It is different with the seals.
“We suffer in summer,” says Jens Glinzig. He then flees to the Baltic Sea, where he finds the temperatures reasonably bearable. Once he was on vacation in Norway, the weather was ideal for swimming.
“It was windy, wet and cold,” he says happily. Marina Hunger tells how she once swam in 25 degrees warm water on vacation in Italy. She didn’t like it.
–
