The Cold Baths
They are only cold till you get in. Luckily, if it’s cold after, you can get right back into our sauna or soaking pool.
Benefits of taking the plunge!
1. Improve emotional resilience
Do you get flustered, anxious or pissed off easily?
Cold baths can help. Seriously, cold baths train your nervous system to be more resilient to stress.
As shown in this study, cold showers act as a small form of oxidative stress on your nervous system. And overtime, the body adapts to this. Essentially, meaning you will find a new sense of deep calmness. The first time you step in that cold bath, you won’t be able to think straight, but after a few times, you will be thinking about your day in a zen like focus as the ice cold water has no effect on your grooviness. This will translate into everyday life as you brush off stressful bullshit that would typically ruin your mood.
Think about James Bond. In the books, James Bond always takes what is known as a Scottish Shower, where he starts off hot and finishes with ice cold water. And he’s the calmest, coolest dude there is!
2. Reduce Stress
Along with increasing your adaptation to stressful situations, they will lower levels of uric acid, and boost levels of Glutathione in your blood – making you less stressed in general. Just look how relaxed Lauren looks while smiling!
Come take a plunge!
3. Improves inhalation and deep breathing
If you’re a keen observer, you’ll eventually notice that cold showers can enhance breathing. How? The body’s natural response to the cold temperature of the water is by breathing deeply. This is to combat the stress of the vasoconstriction shock. Thus, the extra need for enough oxygen to respire and keep you warm is by breathing deep. The process opens up our lungs just like doing a strenuous physical exercise. Thus, it results in a higher average of oxygen intake, improving your inhalation and strengthening your lungs.
4. Improves immunity and circulation
Cold water can improve circulation by encouraging blood to surround our organs, which can then help combat some problems of the skin and heart. As cold water hits the body, it's ability to get blood circulating leads the arteries to more efficiently pump blood, therefore boosting our overall heart health, according to Dr. Joseph Mercola, a natural health expert. It can also lower blood pressure, clear blocked arteries, and improve our immune system.
5. Stimulates weight loss
Cold showers can aid weight loss in an unexpected way. The human body contains two types of fat tissue,white fat and brown fat. White fat is accumulated when we consume more calories than our body needs to function, and we don’t burn these calories for energy. This body fat piles up at our waist, lower back, neck, and thighs, and is the one we all struggle to eliminate. Brown fat is the good fat, which generates heat to keep our bodies warm, and is activated when exposed to extreme cold, according to the Joslin Diabetes Center, a Harvard Medical School affiliate. Thus, cold showers can promote brown fat activity.
A 2009 study found that exposure to extreme cold temperatures activated brown fat in 23 and 24 participants by a 15-fold increase, meaning someone could lose up to nine pounds in a year if they kept this practice up.
6. Speeds up muscle recovery
We have all seen athletes taking ice baths after training to reduce muscle soreness, but a quick cold bath after breaking a sweat at the gym can be just as effective, especially in relieving delayed-onset muscle soreness. A 2009 study analyzing 17 trials involved over 360 people who either rested or immersed themselves in cold water after resistance training, cycling, or running. It found that 24-minute cold water baths were effective in relieving sore muscles one to four days after exercises with a water temperature of 50 to 59 degrees Fahrenheit, or 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.
7. Relieves Depression
Cold baths have been shown to relieve depression symptoms due to the intense impact of cold receptors in the skin, which send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from the peripheral nerve endings to the brain. Thus, it produces an antidepressive effect, and boosts moods, making it a pick-me-up. A 2008study found that cold hydrotherapy has an analgesic effect, and does not appear to have noticeable side effects or cause dependence. This treatment included one to two cold showers of 38 degrees Fahrenheit, two to three minutes long, followed by a five-minute gradual adaptation to make the procedure less shocking.
It’s time to take a duck to water, and try the benefits of hydrotherapy.
