Even if you were born yesterday, you’re probably already bored to death of how many people/places/communities encourage you to have a cold shower, ice bath, or go cold water swimming. It is pretty relentless. BUT… it is for good reason, and it’s not a fad. At least it definitely shouldn’t be. And if you do end up joining the ever-growing, all-knowing, self-righteous, over-enthusiastic army of cold goers, you’ll most likely realise why it should indeed not be just a fad – that’s at least if you stick with it.
And that’s the aim of this post to be fair – to take a quick dip into the science of cold exposure, via the words of an ever-growing, all-knowing, self-righteous, over-enthusiastic cold goer.
Granted it’s not an essential practice, but it is a wonderful wellness tool you can use to experience a whole host of physical, mental AND emotional benefits – and the best part about it – presuming you have access to a shower/bath/lake/river – is that all of those benefits are FREE.
Every day, you, yes YOU, have a choice to turn that hot, steamy shower dial down to as cold as it can go, and experience the benefits. If you don’t do it, you don’t get the benefits, simple. But hopefully some of the following information may inform your choice to make it happen, to stop being a whiney little bottle job, and to take action and reap those (free) rewards.
The rewards being: boosting your immune system, improving circulation, reducing stress, kick starting metabolism, improving cardiovascular health and insulin resistance, reducing pain and inflammation, improving sleep, reducing tensions, fatigues and negative moods, and weight loss – some studies have even shown cold exposure can help relieve depression. And last of all, you can literally get ‘high’ off your own brain chemicals – yes you read that right. Got your attention didn’t it, you absolute degenerate. More on that later…
First of all though, for any sceptics or doubters as to if it those benefits actually take place… well, IT’S JUST SCIENCE okay – I won’t go into the exact studies concerning the above benefits now, but have a little read/research if you want clarity. Consider this a whistle-stop tour, not a scientific essay.
In short though, when you’re experiencing the cold, your body initiates vasoconstriction, meaning the blood vessels narrow, enhancing circulation, improving blood pressure, to ultimately reducing the workload of your heart. Vasoconstriction helps to conserve heat and redirect the blood flow to vital organs and tissues more efficiently, delivering lots more oxygen and nutrients than what it would do otherwise.
When cold exposure ends, vasodilation takes place, restoring the usual blood flow with enhanced overall circulation.
In turn, this contributes to a reduced heart rate which leads to better heart function, better cardiovascular health and fitness, as well as a stronger immune system.
IF you can manage 11 minutes or more a week, this amount of repetitive exposure to cold water can start to reduce the amount of unhealthy body fat, converting it to metabolically active brown adipose tissue. And cold water exposure has been seen to increase the amount of a hormone called ‘adiponectin’, which is made by adipose tissue. This hormone is important in preventing insulin resistance, in which the muscles, fat, and liver become less responsive to insulin.
However the biggest testament to the science is Wim Hof, ‘The Ice Man’, who has been proving scientists wrong and re-writing the script for what cold exposure does for the last 4 decades.
What Wim Hof has achieved was long viewed as (scientifically) impossible. During a study in 2011, he showed that by using his method (cold exposure, breathing, mindfulness), he was able to voluntarily influence his autonomic nervous system – the system responsible for controlling your body’s unconscious processes, the things that happen without you thinking about them, such as breathing and your heart beating. What madness. Fuck you outdated science.
And if you want more non-clinical examples to demonstrate how capable he’s proven the human body/mind to be, well… he’s got [30] Guinness World Records for: running a half marathon above the Arctic Circle while barefoot and wearing only shorts; swimming underneath a thick later of ice for more than 200+ feet; standing in packed ice for hours WITHOUT HIS CORE BODY TEMPERATURE DROPPING; and summiting the world’s highest mountains wearing only shorts.
So trust me – and trust Wim – you really are capable of withstanding a 30 second ‘cold’ shower. I say ‘cold’ because it’s really not as cold as the Arctic Circle. The point is, you, like him, have a body and mind that is biologically built in the same way, and is the result of millions of years of evolution. And with that body and mind you CAN do extraordinary things. You CAN withstand the stress of situation. And that’s what exposing yourself to the cold is, stress. The difference though is when you consciously expose yourself to voluntary stress, it can have amazing benefits.
So let’s talk stress…
How I find it really helpful to frame the cold shower or swimming/ice bath experience whilst I’m experiencing it, is this:
“Nothing in my day is going to be as stressful as this moment right now – so if I can get through this, I can get through anything that comes my way today.”
(In the form of personal or professional stress, or whatever things you have to tackle in your day are).
Cold water exposure is a type of hormesis, which is when we put voluntary, healthy stress on the body. In exercise this could be a HIIT workout, or for digestion, fasting could be an example. With the right dosages, it’s short-term stress on the body, which in turn (and time) results in hugely positive effects. It has to be healthy stress though, not just any old stress. Don’t come up with some novel idea which is is clearly negative stress and expect to bounce back stronger…
Ultimately, what you’re aiming for with cold exposure is to shock the body enough so that it’s stressful and all you can think about is “THIS IS FUCKING COLD”, but be able to withstand it without feeling unsafe, until you’ve done your time.
What’s happening in this (voluntarily) stressful moment, is that you’re purposely triggering your body’s fight or flight response, via stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. During this response, your body releases the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, as well as norepinephrine – and you’re exposing your nervous system to small amounts of these stress hormones, which in turn means that you can build your tolerance to stress over time.
So when you find yourself in a stressful situation away from the cold exposure, say during an uncomfortable work meeting, your body can naturally react much better to whatever the stressful stimulus is, and you can manage your body’s reaction to deal with the situation better than you did before – channeling your response like you did in the cold.
Right that’s enough about stress, let’s talk about happiness!
I vividly remember when I first started having cold showers, one time I experienced this euphoric moment out of nowhere, where like turning a light switch on, I instantly became so happy and laughed out loud, and maybe even ‘whooped’… At the time I couldn’t explain it, but now I know it’s because cold exposure stimulates the release of brain chemicals and neurotransmitters – such as dopamine and endorphins – which act as natural painkillers and mood boosters, leading to increased energy, better mental clarity and reducing stress, AND guess what… feelings of EUPHORIA!
My favourite stat around this is:
When you expose yourself to the cold for 30 seconds or more, you can experience an increase of up to 2.5x the levels of dopamine, for 4-6 HOURS! Let me repeat: FOUR TO SIX HOURS. Mental. Now this is the fun bit of the stat – and it concerns cocaine… (welcome back to the conversation degenerates):
People who indulge in a line of cocaine experience 2.5x levels of dopamine… wait for it… for… 9 MINUTES. NINE MINUTES. And then, they need more to keep up that high.
So now you know that if you choose cocaine over a cold shower, you really are fucking stupid. (Although it’s not exactly the same ‘high’ – the cold is more slow-release over a longer period of time – but you get the point.)
Like anything I write about, I’m an advocate for, and at the risk at sounding like a totally out-of-touch plonker, I do feel ‘part proof’ that these wellness things/techniques really do work. And I can categorically say that for the last 3 years regular cold exposure has contributed to me having more energy when I need it, better clarity and a true ‘reset’ in the morning if I need it. Sometimes I have my best ideas in the cold, it’s also a SECOND-TO-NONE HANGOVER CURE, and this might sound extreme but it really has been a key component to helping me dealing with my own grief. That I do believe.
I also think that if the benefits of cold exposure were offered in a tablet form which you took regularly, it would no doubt be the best selling drug on the planet. The crazy thing is you can have these benefits for free, just by doing it, and not taking any drug. “Get in, get on, get out” is a phrase I use regularly and think appropriate for several experiences on this planet, and it’s very relevant for this particular one.
So stop being a little whiney (warm) wet wipe, batten down your ego, and make it happen. The little voice in your head telling you not to do it is actually there for a reason – to protect you from actually danger – but in this case, tell it to piss off. Override it, turn the dial, and withstand the cold.
What also really helps me in the cold shower, is to breathe – and when I exhale, I use only my nose – which means I can only exhale so fast, which in turns slows my breathing and helps combats the stress. Plus, over time, your body and mind become more resilient meaning you can withstand the cold for longer – it gets easier, but that’s because you get stronger.
Generally the most accessible way to benefit from cold exposure is the shower – but an ice bath will maximise the effects even more. Cold water/wild swimming also packs the same, if not a very similar punch. Either way, if you’re reading this there shouldn’t be any reason you can’t start your cold water journey as soon as, well, NOW – or at least tomorrow morning…
Start at 15 seconds, then gradually increase your exposure all the way until you can withstand 2 minutes or more.
If you find you’re really struggling – maybe consider trying Wim Hof’s breathing techniques (or similar) to help prepare your body before embarking on your cold feat. That’s also something I’ll write about in the future which has great benefits in isolation, let alone alongside cold exposure. Put it this way, the first time I did it, I held my breath for over 3 minutes!
All it takes for you to experience the countless benefits from cold exposure, is to turn down that dial at the end of your shower. So, what are you waiting for?
PS. This post is called ‘A Microcosm of Mindfulness’ because that’s the phrase I’ve coined for a cold shower. I think the experience forces you to be mindful in a way – because all you can think about (generally, and at least when new to cold exposure) is “this is fucking cold”. And you can’t think of anything else. Therefore you’re essentially forcing your mind to not think about anything else, and shut off all of the noise from your life/the outside world – and in turn having one central thought. Which relates to mindfulness, because during meditation you can use the breath as the ‘one thing’ to pull your mind back to when you get distracted. In this case, it’s the cold.
Written as part of The Wishing Wellness – visit here for more content on sleep.
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