Cold water immersion in nature: a therapist’s experience and reflections 1.18.1 - Immunity and cardiovascular health Two benefits in particular stood out to me as motivators to get started: improved cardiovascular health and stronger immunity. I started the practice in late 2020, when COVID-19 fears were still high, and keeping a strong immune system was a popular topic. Wim Hof mentions that a byproduct of regular cold water practice is not getting sick. One chapter of his book is called “a cold shower a day keeps the doctor away”. I actually did have a 3 year streak of not getting sick with a cold, flu, COVID, or any respiratory or sinus infection, that ended just a few months ago when my girlfriend came back from a trip to Columbia and brought back a microbial guest who visited us both for a while. Before 2020, I was used to getting some cold or flu once or twice per year. I did change several other things besides starting a cold water immersion practice though – including moving back to the mountains, running and exercising more, and generally reducing stress. So I can’t say for sure it was the cold water immersion that made the difference. But fortunately we have some empirical research now so we don’t have to depend on anecdotes alone. Even fairly low amounts of cold water exposure – from 1 session to ten days of training – has been shown to increase white blood cell counts, decrease upper respiratory tract infections, prevent symptoms when introduced to endotoxin (a substance that normally causes fever and inflammation), alleviate pain and improve recovery time from injuries. I won’t go into depth on the lab research that’s done because I frankly like to get a summary to convince me of the decision to invest the energy into a practice, and then rely on laboratory of my own first-hand experience and the data I feel experientially from my own body. But I have found it motivating to hear about the unequivocal benefits of cold water immersion from sources like the Huberman Lab podcast or the book The Wim Hof Method. Exposure to cold water has also been shown to improve circulation and increase blood flow throughout the body. As Wim points out, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in developed countries, and cold water immersion can do wonders for healing a damaged and out of shape cardiovascular system. I think of our cardiovascular system as one way that energy flows around the body through the blood. If the flow is constricted and our hearts have to work overtime, we’ll feel more tired and unhealthy. Our brains won’t work as well, and that’ll affect our emotions and our moods, which increases stress and hurts our health in a vicious cycle. All the bodily systems are related. #AdaptationTraining #CardiovascularHealth #ColdDip #ColdExposure #ColdPlunge #ColdTherapy #Coldwater #DelayedGratification #Discipline #DistressTolerance #EmotionalRegulation #ExaminedLife #Health #HealthBenefits #Healing #Hormesis #IceBath #IceBathing #IceTherapy #Immunity #Mindfulness #MindOverMatter #Nature #NatureTherapy #PeakExperiences #PersonalGrowth #Psychology #SelfDiscovery #StressRelief #TherapeuticRange #Type2Fun #Wellness #WimHof #WimHofMethod

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