This might answer my question once I get to grips with it.
Possibly even when you are not. 
That sounds a bit dangerous. 
In winter @Bonzocat perhaps a couple of lengths in a pond, or unheated swimming pool, and then straight back into the house. Pat, not rub, dry then put on some warm clothes and get a hot drink. Works for me. 
I am only partly joking, but it does seem to work. But there is a danger in not realising that you are cold. I find that on a coldish day after swimming I do all the above but only a normal layer of clothing. I feel fine and comfortable, even cosy, but then after about an hour I feel the cold creeping up on me, so slowly that if I wasnāt used to it I might ignore it. Instead I then go and put on a warmer layer. 
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Winter sea swimming or sea walking is very popular where I came from in Brittany, mostly older people too and I often saw people swimming in winter when taking the dog for early morning walks along the local beach.
Sea walking? Havenāt come across that term is it literally what it says, a rather deeper sort of paddling? If so I canāt think of anything worse, having almost half of your body in freezing water with little activity.
Perhaps it is another term for winter swimming, is that what you meant? I do hope so.
If I lived by the sea I would be totally immersed every day, except when there is lightning about, fine when you are in but stick out like a sore thumb as you come out. 
All my dogs used to come with me when holidaying in the Vendee, but they contented themselves to running up and down in the shallows willing me to come back. 
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Walking waist deep, or a little more, usually with a wetsuit and often in a group. And it can be as active as you make it - try doing several kilomĆØtres at a good place
Gosh! I opened the topic āHow warm do you keep your homeā and thought youād found the answer to living with global warming.
Then I backed up to read @David_Spardo and realised 
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In my younger days I liked swimming but especially in the sea, in salt water - always sank in other waters.
Iāve gone racing down the sands and dived into the North Sea knowing that it would be icy, but knowing that by the time I surfaced Iād be tingling all over and soon cosy.
Had no fear in my younger days. (edit added - up into my 50s Iāve just remembered!) Sadly, Iāve grown older and the only cold shower Iād take now would be in the middle of the hottest possible day ever ā sublime.
Iāve thought about my lazy life, spending too much time at the computer, and got one of these to help me keep fit, and warm, in the house.
We have a thermometer in the kitchen, not so far from woodburner 1. In the day we wouldnāt light it until between 17 and 18. In the evenings weāll light it if under 18-19c. If it is really going it can be 25c but not so much further away. Our other thermometer is by the huge glass doors (only secondary double glazing) and it can show 12c on a cold morning. We have a 2nd woodburner when its really cold to heat the other end of the house. Only electric is a small over head bar heater in the shower room. Sometimes a bit grim but we manage!
Not that explains a curiosity we noticed yesterday. On Souca beach near St Jean de Luz and we encountered people marching parallel to the beach in waist deep water. Couldnāt quite work it out! Now we know.
But even more amusing to us was that the place was covered with people in orange T shirts doing all sorts of vaguely sports activities with a greater or lessor degree of skill. Turns out it was a popin the city event for women, and each person had paid ā¬179 for an orange T shirt, a cloth bag and the chance to do short spells of activities like swimming, walking, beach volley ball, and of course sea-walking. Each to their own I guess.
How so? Your body is just a mass of signals we are talking comfort levels only not hyperthermia.
Still taking cold showers here, initial cold but you feel warm afterwards. A bit Wim Hoff.
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First time we saw them we thought they were seals! They were a fair distance away though
They also have Nordic Walking lessons on the beach that you can pay forā¦
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38degC I believe.
House is generally around 20Ā°C. After a while, with a cat load of heat, I have to get up and cool down!
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Well, Iāve learnt something, sea walking, ok I suppose as you are in company and wearing a suit. Tried one once and couldnāt get into it.
@Corona. Anything which makes you believe you are safe in your body temperature when you are really not, is dangerous. First rule of wild or cold water swimming, hence my instant recognition of adverse signs.
We have 2 air to air heaters here which warm the whole house. They are not on at night, thatās what duvets are for and in my own room the window is always half or fully open. I donāt switch them on automatically in the morning but wait a while unless it is obviously freezing of course. Then one of them is switched on, set permanently to 23c. The one in the kitchen, next to my wifeās bedroom, is only switched on shortly before I get her up.
David I think you are taking it a bit far, as I said before we are only talking a few degrees of comfort 18-21c no where near the risk of cold water cardiac arrest as you were suggesting in cold water swimming.
Not at all, my original comment was lighthearted but with a serious warning. You will notice that my words that you quoted above said
Anything which makes you believe you are safe in your body temperature when you are really not
and the important part of that was
when you are really not
I wasnāt talking about when you really are ok, only that if you were not, then signals to the contrary are dangerous.
I like to think 16 degrees C is about right but for short early mornings anything goes, just wear extra cloths ,I am an avid campervan traveller some mornings are well below zero
True. In Russia, every winter a surprising number of men would die in the streets after consuming large quantities of vodka, sold even at bus tops. The warmth they felt was an illusion.
This winter that may be a mixed blessing.