LIVINGLIVING
YOUNG AT HEART
A man for all seasons, Type 2 diabetic Jim Young swims off the
Welsh coast, some rain or shine, all year round. We ask him, why?
N
ot everyone Known
to locals as 'Jim the
Swim,' 66-year-old Jim
Young from Swansea
takes a dip in the sea
every day of the year. Many people ask
him why, but most people ask him, "is it
cold?". At least he's human and admits,
"It's freezing! What else can you expect
in mid-winter, in an easterly gale loaded
with sleet and snow!" He says he just
loves it, and has been doing it for the past
eight years with a short break after his
diagnosis of diabetes.
A trained nurse (now retired), Young
had read about the anti-obesity effects
of brown fat which may be stimulated by
cold. Before he retired Jim worked as a
research technician in molecular biology
in the genetics department of the medical
school at Swansea, and has a sneaking
suspicion that the release of endorphins
from simply surviving the cold and wild
COLD COMFORT. Local
newspaper coverage of
Jim Young's epic oceanic
undertakings
seas may be one of the reasons why he
always feels uplifted following his daily
swim.
Although a slim, fit individual young
was was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes
accompanied by raised cholesterol. He is
vegetarian and no longer owns a car. He
was an unlikely candidate for developing
diabetes but his father had late-onset
diabetes and became insulin-dependent.
Initially after diagnosis he found the
cold sea too daunting, discontinuing his
winter swimming for a year, then decided
to keep at it as the days shortened and
the weather worsened. The sea cooled
but this time Young's enthusiasm did not
and he kept on with his watery ritual and
remains a daily dipper.
He swims in Rotherslade Bay,
Langland, a 30-minute walk through
green fields and woods. Young insists,
"Whatever my diabetes throws at me
keeps me young and keeps me going. All
I need is a wild wave - and a towel to rub
me dry."
The impressionist painter Sisley
immortalised the large rock in Rotherslade
Bay in one of his paintings, and Young
pays his own homage with a photoblog,
Jim's World.