“Cold is merciless. It shows you where you are. What you are.”
– Wim Hof
On this episode, I talk about my experiences with cold showers and how this can help strengthen the mind. Overcoming fear is constant exposure to what it is you are most afraid of. Could you not look at cold showers as a tool to increase your pain tolerance? To aid in the facing other challenges that you know are coming your way? Below are the key topics discussed in this podcast episode.
- Going 3 years taking cold showers, I discovered that there are some major mental health benefits associated with cold exposure. First, the stress response activates when there is threat of pain. When you bypass this ancient system and step into the cold, you build and raise your pain tolerance. You show your unconscious system that you can face pain and NOT die. That you are more than those self limiting thoughts.
- Cold showers will greatly increase the probability of you confronting other difficult and challenging situations. The little challenges of the day tend to be monstrous to the anxiety sufferer, so why not start your morning with a challenge to help set the bar?
- You may get hundreds of thoughts preventing you from entering that shower. But since you went in anyway, you bypass them because you are someone who doesn’t avoid challenges even if your mind says so. Right?
- So, what are the physical benefits? Cold showers increases blood flow by 200% and this helps drop inflammation, increases mitochondria, and T-cells increase which helps prevent virus’ and infections.
- When you spend time in a cold shower you take deeper breaths. This activates and opens up the vagus nerve which is the boss of the Parasympathetic Nervous System (rest and digest). This helps improve mood, digestion, heart rate, and reduces tension.