Between this cold and stormy winter, and all the stress of the omicron invasion – we just can’t seem to get a break!
It seems like its just too much to handle!
Or maybe not! Maybe the stress and the cold together could actually be a good thing.
Believe it or not – there are people who deliberately expose themselves to the cold as a way to improve their health. What are these seemingly crazy people thinking?
When I was growing up there was a lot of talk about the polar bear club – a group of people who would swim in the Coney Island area of the Atlantic Ocean between November and March.
And while I’m definitely not suggesting polar plunges, I am interested in exploring if there is anything we can learn from these “polar bears”.
The practice of cold exposure has been around for a long time.
The question is – what does it do and is it potentially beneficial for your health?
Being exposed to cold is definitely a stressor to your body. Some argue that small incremental stresses to the body actually strengthen the body. When we start small and build up it allows your body to learn to adjust to the stress and handle it better.
There isn’t a lot of research about cold exposure. However some studies show that cold exposure might be able to boost your mood, immune system, and your metabolism.
There is a Dutch man named Wim Hoff who has made cold exposure famous. He is renowned for crazy feats like running a half marathon in his bare feet in the snow, swimming under ice and climbing Mount Everest in shorts.
He claims that daily cold water exposure (he even recommends ice baths) coupled with a specific type of breathing is a surefire way to improve health.
He and his followers have even been the subject of research studies. During one study, subjects that were trained in the Wim Hof Method and control subjects were injected with a bacterial pathogen and monitored for symptoms. Compared to the control group, followers of the Wim Hof Method showed a stronger immune response and less symptoms related to the pathogen. (check out that study here)
If you want to test the benefits of cold water therapy for yourself, you can try this:
Take warm-to-cold showers. Start with warm water and, after a few minutes, gradually drop the temperature.
You can build up the amount of time you spend under the cold water
As time goes on, and your tolerance builds – you can lower the temperature of the cold water.
I have personally started doing this and must confess that I always feel invigorated and surprisingly warm.
If you’re not ready for a cold shower you can begin to incorporate cold exposure in other small ways like taking a walk outside in the cold air, or lowering your heat – especially when you sleep at night.
So here’s to polar bears, cold and stress – just a little bit at a time.
