Freeze the Fear - Cold Shower Challenge

I have been watching Wim Hof’s Freeze the Fear and have been inspired to add a 90 second blast of cold water at the end of my showers. It’s a bit of a shock every time but it really does energise you once you get out. I’m weirdly enjoying it. I do sometimes wonder if it is sophisticated snake oil now legitimised by appearing on the BBC. However, Wym has submitted himself to more than one scientific study which I expect he would have swerved had he been a scammer. There are other studies showing that cold exposure can stimulate the immune system

I’d be interested in your experiences especially if you haven’t tried it to date and are brave enough to add a little cold exposure to your next shower and report back. Wim has a circular style breathing technique which he recommends just prior to the temperature drop. I’ll admit, I don’t always complete the exercise and just go for the temperature drop. You can, however, find instructions on his YouTube channel. The first couple of times you may want to reduce the temperature in several decrements until you hit the coldest setting. After that you can make the decrements larger each time until you can finally reach the coldest setting in one big shocking drop 🥶

It is almost the opposite of a hug i.e. hugs for when you want to feel cosy and safe, cold showers when you need to feel dynamic and motivated to tackle the day

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I am not a physician but if you have any cardiovascular, respiratory or other health concerns I’d advise you exercise caution with this one.

«13

Comments

  • I'll give it a go.

  • @quixotic_life First taker, I’m impressed. The first time you will likely curse me. But the couple of hours after should make you feel great

  • I've come across two people online who are obsessive followers of this method. I typically turn the shower cooler before I get out, so the temperature change isn't such a shock, but I've no desire to shock myself purposefully with frigid water. 😆 I've had to take cold showers before and they are absolute torture. Glad the method works for some though. Similar to doing hot and cold presses, or jumping from a hot tub into the snow. Probably opens the capillaries, or similar.

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • @SunsetSnuggles It does sound like the actions of a masochistic maniac and you are definitely the most sane one here 😃. For now I’m enjoying the flood of euphoric brain chemicals post cold exposure. Might not be quite so enthusiastic as we track back into winter

  • I've always done this. I rinse my hair in cold water because it makes your hair shinier and smoother by closing the cuticle.

    It's also best practice to alternate between hot and cold water for sore muscles.

    But I also just love it. I often jump in the creek and the swimming pool in late fall and early spring when it's cool outside. As long as it's sunny. Sunshine and very cold water are a balm for my soul 💦☀️🏖 🏊 🌞🏝️🌴🌤️🌻

  • @Mela_B love the sound of diving into the creek in late fall. Likely the nearest experience in the UK would be wild swimming in the Lake District

    The Wim Hof show is set in the Italian Alps mid winter and the challenges become progressively more extreme including cutting a hole in a frozen lake to form a freezing plunge pool

  • This also may help with fat loss. It stimulates the homeostasis system in your body. We're freezing! Quick, burn some calories!

  • @CuddleDuncan yes, I read it’s the brown adipose fat that gets mobilised. Can’t say I’ve seen my abs coming back yet but live in hope 😀

  • I've heard positive things about cold showers but I love my hot showers too much.

  • edited May 2022

    3 weeks into cold shower challenge.
    90 days Challenge. ✊✊✊

  • @CSnMUS87 Ditto, I love me some hot water. 💦

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • @CSnMUS87 & @SunsetSnuggles I did suspect cuddle comforters would lean towards everything warm and cosy 😀

  • @LondonHug Ohhh, yes. This is me right now...

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • Impressive @Chris04. How are you finding it? Are they constant or does it get better the longer you keep going? I’m not that consistent yet, but enjoying everyday when I remember

  • I do similar to what @Mela_B does, after I get out I wash face with cold water to close up the pores.
    And are times I have turn off the shower slowly, so get that cold blast, which can be nice, but haven't made it a regular thing.

    A coworker of mine had his water heater break, he dealt with it for months broken, and took cold showers the entire time. He was moving it and tried to convince me to do it. But he eventually got his heater fixed and went back to hot showers.

  • @entwine yes, I think there is a big difference between it being a choice where you are actively seeking specific benefits vs. an enforced experience because the heating failed. I expect it’s also not quite as acceptable an experience when we get into the winter months

  • @LondonHug Okay fine, I'll give it a shot. If I come back in twenty minutes cussing, it's on you, son! 😄

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • @SunsetSnuggles there’s a high probability you’ll be cursing me but I’m feeling kinda safe 4000 miles away in the UK 😃

  • [Deleted User]WriterGF (deleted user)

    I seem to recall that Ian Fleming used to write Bond as always taking a shower in scalding hot water and then switching to ice cold at the end.

  • @WriterGF I’ve just looked that up. Apparently it’s called the James Bond Shower or the Scottish Shower. There are also apparently multiple references to this practice across the books.

  • Um. So I thought I was gonna be all bad@ss and count to ninety. While hating the universe, but still.

    Try seven. While chuffing like this hangry lion at 20 seconds in...

    Yeah. I almost rode the bull.

    And yes, I went full-tilt cold. 😱 With mountain water. I go find my heated blankie now, you meanie... 🥺

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • @SunsetSnuggles going full tilt first time out is pretty badass! In theory you should be feeling pretty alert and energised for the next couple of hours.

  • Oh yep, sure 'nuff...my scalp is...self-aware. Didn't know that was a thing...

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • OMG ~ @SunsetSnuggles ~ 🤣🤣🤣

    Once when I was a kid, we went to someone's house who had a sauna and a swimming pool. We were all in the sauna, when, "ready, set, go!" We tiptoe ran across the frost covered ground and lept into the pool, shattereing the thin layer of ice on top. Even faster it seemed we returned to the sauna!! Craziness!!

    Another time when I was in my early 20's I lived in a small ski resort town. One night some friends and I were hanging out in a massive hot tub. I don't remember how it came about but I went out and stood on the railing. Arms outstretched, I fell backwards into a three foot snow bank. After a few heart stopping seconds I was back up and plunged into the water again. Holy heck though!! It felt like I'd just been impaled by nails everywhere the snow had touched!! It soon passed, but dang it was intense.

    So a cold blast in the shower, should be pretty easy to take in comparrison... tbd! Plus, if it can help burn off any bit of the extra extra I put on over Covid, and more through further reduced mobility opportunities from a car accident a year ago, then I'm going to start doing it from now on either way!! (assuming I can actually deal...😉)

    🥶🚿 ~ 💃👍

  • @quixotic_life check out the episode wither shower scene. I think the breathing exercises might be worth doing the first time at least

  • @LondonHug ~ Noted... I'll look into making sure I have, "the strict supervision of a professional medical team" for my own safety before I proceed... ie ~ I won't come after you if things go horribly wrong... 🤞

    😆 ~ lies... I'd probably go hit up @SunsetSnuggles to share her heated blankie with me while we say a bunch of not-nices about you through our chattering teeth...

  • @quixotic_life Sure, here we are...

    By the way, I've been told we would be good friends, but your PM's are paused! 🥴

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

  • edited May 2022

    I hate cold showers. I don’t care if they have a supposed benefit.

    The only exception was when I was briefly in Russia and Latvia on a medical exchange program. We would sit in the sauna - Russians like their saunas HOT - and then do a cold plunge or dump buckets of cold water over each other. It actually felt good. Outside of that, forget it. :#

    I’m skeptical of the claims. Studies on Wim Hof only demonstrate the effects on him personally and cannot be extrapolated to others. One study I found had a total of 24 subjects - 12 controls and 12 test subjects. I’m not qualified to evaluate the results, I can only say that it’s a small study. I do notice that three of the control subjects were replaced because their results were not consistent with expectation and it was assumed there was an error with administering an endotoxin injection. That is 25% of their control subjects.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4034215/

    This researcher makes an interesting observation about the study method: the test group was trained in Hof’s method for 10 days, the control group was not. Then during a testing phase the test group was allowed to practice breathing techniques while the control group was not. He points out that, rather than validating that the training in Hof’s method produced the effect, it’s possible that using the breathing technique at that moment had an effect. Had there been a third group of untrained participants who were allowed to use that breathing technique at that time it might have demonstrated whether the effects were the result of cumulative effects of the practice or on the immediate effects.

    As an aside, supposedly this method claims to increase the amount of brown fat in the body, which creates heat. Studies of Hof’s body composition find his percentage of brown fat to be higher than average but not outside of a normal range.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5605164/

    According to Hof’s website only two studies have been published - the one I just cited and one about his resistance to cold i.e. “mind over body.” This has already been established that at least some people are able to do this via meditation. They say there are some ongoing studies but nothing else has been published. That’s very little scientific evidence so far.

    I’m not saying the claims are false but I don’t yet see robust evidence supporting them. If the effect is supposedly an improved immune system, one would have to keep up this practice indefinitely to gain any benefit. That’s not very useful to the average person. It would be interesting to see what effect this method has on individuals with autoimmune disorders where suppressing the inflammatory response would be of benefit.

    Claims of “strengthening” the immune system should always be approached with caution. Auto-immune disorders and allergies are a result of a “strong” immune system i.e. an immune system that either has a strong reaction to an allergen or else mistakes the body’s own tissues as foreign and acts against them. The immune system is complex and the idea of boosting it is usually simplistic and false. Immunizations boost the immune system by exposing the body to a specific pathogen so that the immune system learns to recognize it. However, most claims about boosting the immune system are not supported by evidence and are the result of flawed thinking.

    It might work. It might not. If it feels good and you don’t have any medical reasons to avoid it, do it. Check back with us in a year and let us know if you’re still doing it.

  • @quixotic_life I’m embarrassed to admit, I had a brief moment of irrational panic where I suddenly realised I was potentially inducing people I had never met to put their body under stress. And then I realised I was completely overreacting, after all it’s just a bit of cold water and hey how bad could it be 😃

    @SunsetSnuggles & @quixotic_life we’ll have have none of that cuddling under blankets, what do you think this is? Some kind of cuddle buddy website......

Sign In or Register to comment.