Cold Water Immersion
Cold water immersion is a practice that has been around for centuries. In modern practice, you may use the cold water in a bathtub, a shower or a a body of water such as a lake, river or ocean. As uninviting as this may sound, except on New Year’s Day for some (who are all ROCK STARS!), being cold for short amounts of time has some definite health benefits and research is starting to confirm the benefits. Subjecting yourself to short periods of cold water has been shown to boost your immune system, improve circulation, deepen your sleep, boost energy levels, reduce inflammation, improve metabolic function, improve your mood and possibly extend your life expectancy. Per Dr Michael Barnish, head of genetics and nutrition at REVIV (revivme.com), “being exposed to uncomfortably low temperatures seems to activate the longevity genes engaging our survival response, a key player in making sure our DNA is repaired before new cells are made.”
Many different cultures have used cold water immersion for centuries. You will find it most commonly used in northern climates like Russia, Finland and Norway but it was noted back in 400 BC, by Hippocrates, water therapy relieved fatigue. More recently, Thomas Jefferson reportedly used a cold foot bath every morning for six decades to keep him healthy.
There are risks to cold water immersion. The main risks are hypothermia and drowning. If you plunge yourself into ice water, rare cases can experience cardiac arrest, arrhythmia, or respiratory distress, especially if you have underlying health conditions, as the intense cold is stressful on the body.
I think the best way to experience cold water immersion is in your own shower or follow Thomas Jefferson and do a cold foot bath. Since the beginning of January 2022, I have been turning the water cold at the very end of my morning shower. I’m not a fan of being cold generally, but I do like the burst of energy it gives me and I do feel like I start the morning much clearer headed. I haven’t made it to full immersion yet under the shower head but I’m working up to it.
Interested in challenging yourself? Here are some steps:
1. Take it Slow.
Gradually build up to using colder shower water temperatures for longer periods of time and what body parts get put into the water. Take two weeks or so to gradually build up your tolerance. Start with 1 minute with cool water and then move to colder temperatures for longer periods of time with a goal of 5 minutes.
2. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable
Each time the water temperature is decreased, you should feel uncomfortable. The benefits occur when you are at a temperature where the uncomfortable feeling lasts and doesn’t subside. Practice the Wim Hof breathing method, who is otherwise known as the Ice Man, for breaking records for cold exposure using his specialized breathing to endure extreme cold temperatures.
3. Normalize it in your everyday
Make a commitment to do this every day for 30 days. Then see how you feel compared to at the beginning of your cold water immersion journey. Decide if you want to continue this practice. If you don’t, challenging yourself to being in an uncomfortable space has been a great part of your journey and it’s ok to not continue.
Interested in taking this to the next level? Here are some safety precautions provided by Tarran Huntley of Descended From Odin:
1. Never jump into water that you don’t know the depth and temperature of and be aware of under ice currents on frozen lakes
2. Always bring a heat recovery treatment with you, like warm clothes, hot drinks and a carbohydrate source on standby. Ideally have support with your if you’re new to it
3. You want to be running warm so it feels like a relief. Tarran does some short cardio and mobility for around 15 minutes beforehand. Don’t overthink it, act like it is nothing you can’t handle and enter smoothly and calmly.
4. Once in, take deep, slow, invigorating breaths and continue the breath cycles. If you breathe in for a steady & deep 4 and out for a long slow 6, then one minute is 6 breaths.
Personally, I am going to continue my cold water immersion experience to where I can get fully into the cold water and see where it leads me. Maybe here…
Photo by K B