Health
Cold Comfort
You probably shudder at the idea that someone will voluntarily take a cold shower! What’s the point, right? Well, there are actually many benefits to this and when I realized I was missing out on all these free health hacks, I decided to take the plunge. Here is why you should too.
Metabolism Booster – When you’re cold, your body work to warm you up. This simple act of thermogenesis boosts your metabolism and helps you mobilize fatty acids and burn fat.
Try this: Take a three-minute hot/cold shower – 30 seconds cold, 30 seconds warm. When you can do three, work it up to five.
Breathing – though we take it for granted – is actually a powerful tool. Doing breathing exercises can help reduce stress and increase energy. When we get cold we tend to hyperventilate. The trick with this therapy is to relax, slow your breathe. That is the only way to succeed.
Try this: Take a cold shower for one minute and notice your breathing in the first 10 seconds If you’re breathing to fast, slow it down and start taking deep breaths and only through the nose to help warm up that oxygen. Continue until you feel calm.
Mental Toughness – This is difficult, but we can’t let ourselves grow complacent, we have to constantly throw wrenches into our routines to keep things interesting. Succeeding in cold therapy requires patience and dedication. Master a chilly shower, and you’ll feel like you can master anything.
Try this: Take a cold bath. Fill up your bath then add 3-5 lbs of ice in there. Jump in and notice how you feel. Try to stay in there for one minute. Remember, the more relaxed you are the easier it will be.
There are many other benefits. It can improve sexual performance, lower blood sugar, cut food cravings, improve deep sleep, increase pain tolerance, reduce inflammation and increase alertness, but more than anything, it has increased discipline which has a transcendental effect in regard to other uncomfortable situations which I have to negotiate in order to succeed. And not to mention, being that girl that takes cold showers is pretty badass.