The Legendary ‘AMA’ (Seawomen}
For as long as 3000 to 5000 years, the legendary “Ama,” also known as the sea women of Japan, have been diving into cold waters, scouring the bottom of the ocean for seafood and pearls to bring home. This profession was considered a sacred undertaking and over the decades, the Ama became conditioned to the sometimes near-freezing temperatures.
Diving into deep waters from 12 to sometimes 70 or 80 years old, the Ama learned how to control their body temperature and stay warm against all odds. We love to think about the similarities between the Ama and the pearls they spent thousands of years collecting: Pearls are created when a mollusk launches a defense process against irritants, like sand.
For the Ama, the challenge of the cold activates that same defense process that helps them adapt, unleashing their inner strength. According to historical documentation, women were considered the natural choice for this role because of their higher body fat content. And now, we know that fat can actually act as an insulating layer, giving women an edge up when facing the cold.
Despite stories about the cold not being good for women, you will adapt to the extreme cold the more you do it, but the opposite is also true: You have to use it, or you will lose it! Research into female Korean free divers called the Haenyeo (similar to the Japanese Ama) confirms this. During the 19th Century 22 percent of all Korean women on Jeju Island were “seawomen,” diving in deep, cold waters (between 55.413 and 57.214 degrees in the winter) while only dressed in a thin cotton bathing suit. These women had a great tolerance towards cold water, but when they stopped their cold-water practices, their cold adaptation disappeared. Continuous conditioning to cold physically is therefore essential to maintain the ability to deal with cold.
Recent research has even discovered something miraculous: South Korean Haenyeo are genetically adapted to the cold. It literally shows in their DNA. They share gene variants related to cold tolerance and reduced diving blood pressure.
It shows again: Adaptation is the ‘key’!
You can read this exciting research article here.
