Sally Minty-Gravett, Otto Thaning Talk Longevity On WOWSA Live

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International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmers Sally Minty-Gravett, MBE and cardiologist Dr. Otto Thaning have both enjoyed long and illustrious careers in the open water.

Minty-Gravett aims to swim across the English Channel six separate times over six consecutive decades next year, where Dr. Thaning has completed two English Channel crossings, 20 years apart. His last crossing in 2014 established Dr. Thaning as the oldest person to cross the English Channel in history at the age of 73.

They both spoke with Ned Denison of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame on today’s WOWSA Live program. They both covered a variety of topics covering longevity and the benefits of making swimming a lifelong sport:

Sally Minty-Gravett, MBE talked about:
* enjoying swimming from the age of 3 to the present, now at the age of 63
* being asthmatic as a swimmer
* anticipating her 6th English Channel crossing in her sixth consecutive decade
* doing 900 miles to prepare for her first English Channel crossing at 18 years in 11 hours 57 minutes, and doing a similar time of 12 hour 8 minutes at the age of 35

Dr. Otto Thaning talked about:
* anticipating the closure of pools and the sea due to the impact of the coronavirus
* swimming in the prone position in an environment where you are weightless, changing the hemodynamics of the human body (i.e., dynamics of blood flow within the body)
* circulatory differences between dryland sports and swimming that improves the venous return (i.e., the flow of blood back to the heart)
* excessive venous return and SIPE (or swimming-induced pulmonary edema)
* how the arm recovery in swimming enables a good venous flush through the muscles – a great physiological response – compared to weightlifting where there is momentarily no circulation
* how the calorie burn is tremendous, especially while marathon swimming
* cold adaptation or training to avoid becoming cold
* helping Lewis Pugh train in a cold pool and how he experiences anticipatory thermogenesis and diverts blood from his skin
* fine-tuning your autonomic nervous system in order to react quickly, enabling longevity

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