Also called cold thermogenesis or cold water therapy. The Europeans and Russians have been known to roll in the snow (snow bath) with the knowing that it increased the resilience of their immune system. And the Japanese are known for their hot and cold alternate bathing. And historically, old German Naturopathic health spas would use snow bathing for their chronically ill and inflamed guests.
Known to improve our energy power batteries within our cells – called the mitochondria. Also improves thyroid and adrenal function, helps with weight loss by increasing more fat burning “brown fat”, plus reducing leptin resistance – which is a hormone which prevents weight loss & when in the right amounts, promotes fat burning. And yes, it does support our immune system plus a whole lot more. The primary positive benefit is to reduce inflammation, the big factor in all illness.
Think of Wim Hoff, the now celebrity cold water bather as an extreme version. This guy has made the art of thermogenesis a funky and hip thing to do. And Wim promotes cold therapy for mental health and resilience, and his depression and anxiety is what attracted him to it initially. Which makes sense due the practice being an opportunity to set up new neural pathways for supporting resilience.
I’ve been doing this for a while now. Having cold showers and jumping in the ocean quickly when to tell you the truth, I’d rather not. And I’ve been doing it far into winter as my psychology at present will allow me. My challenge this year will be to keep it up throughout winter…which I intend to do – without a wet suit.
If you are interested in the benefits of cold therapy – it doesn’t have to be a big deal. Just start by trying to have the end of your shower cold! Or even better, as long as you can mentally muster. Start with 5-10 seconds and work up to washing half of your body with cold water?
But the key is the breath through it and really trust that you are going to be ok. Because you are. You’re not going to die. It is just your brain playing tricks on you. It’s just cold water. The more you tense through it, the more muscle tension you will get. So relax and breath…and trust. This part of the process is the part that promotes the mental resilience and builds new and positive neural pathways, for other day to day tasks that resilience is needed. The whole process reminds me very much of the work of Dr Rick Hansen the Neuro-Psychologist and author of Hardwiring Happiness and Buddhas Brain. He writes a lot about the research which encourages the holding of both the “challenging” and the “safe/ knowing that it will be ok” thoughts, both in your awareness at the same time. This is what builds new neural pathways.
The quickest way to reduce inflammation, improve gut microbiome health & diversity and increase energy & brain function is by cutting out gluten containing foods and dairy products.
There is definitely no “one size fit’s all” as far as nutrition goes. One persons’ gut microbiome may be needing less histamine containing foods or less FODMAPS until they get back into balance. While another persons’ “bubbling under the surface” thyroid issues require them to be strictly gluten free and dairy free for their mental health and energy, due to a presence of auto-antibodies (which are not commonly tested unfortunately).
And of course, we ALL need less sugar. Unfortunately, what our culture thinks is a “normal healthy diet” is not healthy by any means. But a good start is to wade through the multitude of naysayers out there when it comes to swimming against the tide of “normal”. And please look at the real research. And perhaps test the theory for yourself for a month. And notice the difference. Also check out my thoughts and research on gluten here.
Without clean (preferably filtered) water our cells cannot carry oxygen readily enough throughout our body to our brain. Being hydrated reduces our fatigue, stops us craving carbs, sugar and other zoning out behaviours. Aim for an average of around 2 litres plus herbal teas per day. But everyone has different needs depending on movement and intake of other diuretic fluids.
We don’t have to over think this. Put on a song and dance around the kitchen like an idiot while making breakfast or dinner. Do some morning stretches. Get a mini tramp rebounder and bounce for a few minutes a day. Take a walk or short run a few times per week. Join a walking group. Mix either meditation, reflection and relaxation with your movement – or mix community and socialising with your movement. All will be good for your mental health.
Or Time Restricted Feeding (T.R.F.) or 5/2 Diet. It doesn’t matter the marketing or presentation behind this concept. This concept is NOT new. But it is fabulous! And I do recommend it.
Our genetics (and brains) have historically been exposed to intermittent famine or feasting, for thousands of years. We know how to do this innately. Our cells and DNA expect this. We unfortunately don’t live in a world where this is easy or encouraged. So, we have to think outside the square and decide to choose it.
Let’s face it, we are not getting any healthier as a population. Neurological disease is overtaking our usual diseases, as a way that we most likely will leave this earth one day. Parkinsons’, dementia, Alzheimer’s etc, and other brain and nervous system disorders are on the increase. And inflammation and toxin over load (from our own gut microbiome and our high chemical environment) is a leading cause.
For those who have early or late stage inflammatory conditions such as depression like symptoms, auto-immunity, cancer or anything really, this is something to seriously consider for short and long-term health and energy.
Perhaps for those with really high anxiety and imbalanced blood sugar levels, it is not something to go to immediately. You would need specific lead up support for a couple of months prior. But it would be beneficial for you too with the right support going into it.
For those partial to research and scientific evidence…
Traditionally TRF confines food access to 9-12 hours during the active eating phase. It has been shown in this research here to be a therapeutic intervention against obesity without calorie restriction and protects against metabolic disease even when briefly interrupted on weekends. It is also effective against a high inflammatory fat, fructose/glucose or general sugar/carb diet.
For anyone who wants to watch some documentaries on the subject for inspiration – go for it here…
Michael Mosley: Eat, Fast & Live Longer | SBS On Demand
http://documentaryheaven.com/eat-fast-and-live-longer/
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4485468.htm
http://michelsonmedical.org/2014/12/26/igf-1-fasting-discussion-valter-longo/
Lets’ face it…all disease begins with some inflammation…we cannot always find every last individual causation of the inflammation – so it makes sense that Intermittent Fasting is a good lifestyle intervention for getting general inflammation markers reduced for disease prevention.
Most mornings I wake up and do my morning readings and reflection. If I don’t do this practice, I feel my day escapes me and I seem to have less awareness or intention. It takes between 2 to 15 minutes. Just a paragraph or two from an inspiring author on remembering to live with awareness. I usually couple it with a few deep breaths and set an intention for the day. 5-10 minutes and I’m done.
This could be a time where you just focus on your breath (the in breath being half as long as the out breath and aiming to breath in through your nose and out through your mouth).
Perhaps you deliberately meditate; do some journal writing; stretching whilst thinking about what you are grateful for or what intention you would like to set for the day (eg. listen more; be more present; practice patience & kindness to others; noticing how you breathe through the day; practicing being kind to yourself and non-critical etc). Or perhaps it is sitting down mindfully with a cup of your favourite morning beverage. If you have a lawn, go stand out on it while you have your cup of tea.
I used to start the morning busy and frantically fast. But I purposely now wake earlier so I have this ME time before I get going. It just takes a few minutes.
Consider “book ending” your day by also reflecting on 5 things that you are grateful for. Your dog’s wagging helicopter tail as she greets you at the end of the day? Your moody orchid that you managed to get flowering again? Your patience that you practiced in the meeting today? The choices of food you ate today? Or sometimes it can be as simple as – you managed to get out of bed and went to work when you wanted to run the other way?
We have a brain that is wired for the negative and survival. And as Neuropsychologist Dr Rick Hanson says, the brain is wired to be like “Teflon for the good” and “Velcro for the bad”. We need to consciously work on offsetting this negative state by “taking in the good”, “reflecting” and absorbing the positive.
Whatever habits and traits we practice over and over, become our states. We can change our brain for the better for doing these quick mindfulness based practices daily.
Categories: energy, cold therapy, thermogenesis, immunity, mental health, depression, anxiety, mindfulness, winter energy.
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