The Human Polar Bear: How Lewis Pugh Swam In Arctic Waters

This guy is capital N-Nuts!

What guy?

I’m talking about the “Human Polar Bear”, better known as Lewis Pugh.

Why’s he called the “Human Polar Bear”?

Because he swam in the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole in seawater that was around 29 degrees fahrenheit – that’s around -1.5 degrees centigrade!

Any normal person who fell into seawater that cold could not survive more than a minute or two.

So how does Pugh swim in the sea at temperatures that would kill most people?

Pugh’s long-time coach Professor Tim Noakes revealed to CNN that Pugh has developed a unique mechanism for overcoming freezing conditions.

He is apparently able to increase  his body temperature by self -hypnosis alone. 

The self-hypnosis Pugh uses is a process that Noakes has dubbed:

Anticipatory thermogenesis.

Put simply: Pugh can raise his body temperature to a feverish 101 F (38.4 C), some 2.5 degrees above normal body temperature.

Noakes first noted this extraordinary ability during a training session.

Before entering the water, Pugh cast his mind back to a traumatic parachuting accident he witnessed when he was a soldier in the British army, reliving the event in detail.

Noakes recorded an increase in Pugh’s body temperature and over the next fortnight, as Pugh was exposed to more cold-water swims, he was able to increase his temperature even further, eventually peaking at 101 F.

Odd right?

Perhaps so.

But it does demonstrate the power of hypnosis to overcome pain or shock in the body