A team of UK researchers has published a new study examining how middle-aged, middle-class British women describe the effects of regular open water swimming on their wellbeing, including its impact on menopause symptoms and mental health.

The University of East London research uses in-depth interviews to understand women’s own accounts of swimming in outdoor water and how they feel it supports their lives.

The study looks at the patterns that emerged when women talked about what open water swimming meant to them.

Across the interviews, four themes appeared consistently.

Although menopause was never introduced by the researchers, several participants volunteered that cold water and the routine of swimming helped them feel calmer, more emotionally balanced and more in control during a major life transition.

Women felt it supported their mental wellbeing, with many describing a clear “reset” effect, a lift in mood, more energy and an increased sense of what their bodies could do, all expressed in their own terms.

They also spoke about health, strength and resilience.

Participants said the experience of swimming outdoors helped them feel more capable and better able to deal with difficult moments, including bereavement, illness and daily stress.

Finally, Interviewees emphasised the community around the lake and said that the confidence and clarity they gained often carried over into work, relationships and everyday decision-making.

This is the first qualitative study to examine open water swimming through “flourishing” a recognised psychological framework, and that participants’ accounts aligned closely with its components.

Mr James Beale is lead author and Programme Leader for the MSc Applied Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of East London.

He said: “We are seeing a major shift in women taking up open water swimming, and many are now speaking openly about how it connects to menopause.

“Until now, this discussion has been largely anecdotal.

“Our study shows that women repeatedly link outdoor swimming with emotional steadiness, confidence and coping during this stage of life.

“That points to an emerging area of women’s health that deserves greater attention.”

Ultromics, a developer of AI-driven cardiology solutions, has announced an investment from the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Venture Fund, a fund within American Heart Association Ventures (the venture capital programme of the American Heart Association).

The funding will support Ultromics’ mission to make early identification of heart failure a standard part of cardiac care, expanding access to its FDA-cleared AI platform.

Ultromics’ technology helps clinicians detect heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a condition that disproportionately affects women and is too often missed until it’s advanced.

Tracy Warren is senior managing director, Go Red for Women Venture Fund.

Warren said: “Closing the diagnostic gap by recognising disease before irreversible damage occurs is critical to improving health for women—and everyone.

“We are gratified to see technologies, such as this one, that are accepted by leading institutions as advances in the field of cardiovascular diagnostics.

“That’s the kind of progress our fund was created to accelerate.”

Heart failure remains one of the leading causes of death for women, yet symptoms of HFpEF like fatigue, shortness of breath, and swelling are often dismissed or misattributed to ageing, weight or other conditions.

Studies show that women are twice as likely as men to develop this form of heart failure, and that up to 64 per cent of cases go undiagnosed in clinical practice.

The result is a diagnostic blind spot that leaves many women without access to new, life-prolonging therapies now proven to reduce hospitalisations and improve survival.

Ultromics’ AI helps detect the subtle changes in a cardiac ultrasound that mark the earliest stages of heart failure.

EchoGo Heart Failure is built on one of the largest echocardiography datasets in the world, representing a diverse population of patients.

The technology analyses routine ultrasound scans to quantify heart function and identify patterns that signal HFpEF.

By validating against diverse outcomes data, the system sees early signs of disease even when symptoms are not obvious.

The technology aims to give physicians an objective, accurate report within the same workflow hospitals already use.

Ross Upton, PhD is CEO and founder of Ultromics.

He said: “By augmenting physicians’ decision making with EchoGo, we can help them recognise disease at an earlier stage and treat it more effectively.

“Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is one of the most complex and overlooked diseases in cardiology.

“For too long, clinicians have been expected to diagnose it using tools that weren’t built to detect it, and as a result, many patients are identified too late.”