INNATE Blog

Indeed, cold exposure has become a very popular subject. When someone brings it up, it often leads to an entertaining brag-off; ‘but how long can you be in a cold shower for’, ‘but how cold is the sea’, ‘but how often do you do it’? Competition aside, there is usually unequivocal support for cold exposure. Is this just to hide the lunacy of all those plunging into cold water, or is there something here? Modern life comes with many, many challenges. It is fast, stressful and can be overwhelming. It can leave us:

• Anxious
• Struggling with weight-gain
• Depressed
• Lacking purpose
• Depleted of energy
• Suffering with brain fog

All of this can lead to various chronic diseases, making us more anxious, depressed etc and the cycle continues.

People talk about the above problems as if they are another member of the family, simply something everyone has to accept and wrestle with. Yet, taking a step back, issues such as constant brain fog should not be perceived as the status quo; they are not a part of what it means to be human and we need to stop treating them like family.

Imagine if there was an accessible way to mitigate all these issues. Well… cold exposure may be just that and all it takes is to flip your shower from hot to cold.

I’m sure you’ve heard this all before – how cold exposure can help you– but you may still be asking why? How? Really?

I don’t blame you. After all I’m asking you to take a serious plunge, so let’s not base it on faith, but facts.

The main reason why cold exposure is so transformational is due to blood vessels. Specifically, when exposed to the cold, our blood vessels have to retract, ensuring that vital organs have the blood flow they need and our core temperature doesn’t drop below 35 degrees. When we ‘get the hell out of the cold’ and into lots of jumpers, the blood vessels open out again. This exercise trains the blood vessels to work effectively, thus improving the efficacy of the circulatory system, which is, in effect, the foundation of our health.

"It’s not hocus pocus, it’s physiology"

- Hof and De Jong, 2017

If the blood vessels in our body were laid out next to each other, they would be 125,000km long (that’s enough to go around the earth 3 times). The fact that our blood manages to keep flowing is remarkable in itself. It’s no wonder that this system requires some help. Cold exposure is indeed the training they need and the knock-on effects are astounding:

1. Cold exposure creates a similar reaction to what happens when the body is overcome by anxiety (Van Tulleken et al., 2018). Thus, it trains the body to physiologically deal with anxiety more effectively, whilst the brain knows it is equipped to conquer this anxious period. As such, stimulating an anxious reaction through cold exposure helps us deal with anxiety in general.
2. When Wim Hof sat in an ice bath, his metabolic rate increased 300%, showing that cold exposure also helps our metabolic rate, therefore helps with weight loss.
3. Hof showed that cold exposure significantly boosts the immune system. He was injected with endotoxin alongside 12 others and he was the only one not to develop any signs of illness. This experiment was repeated with 24 people, 12 of whom learnt the Wim Hof Method for a week and 12 remained untrained. They were all injected with endotoxin. Again, the 12 that had been training with cold exposure did not develop any symptoms.
4. Counter-intuitively, cold exposure helps to keep you warm. It builds up brown fat which is released when the body’s core temperature is threatened. Hof tested this to the max and climbed Kilimanjaro in shorts with a group of 24 people. It was -15 degrees celsius at the top!
5. It is a challenge to plunge into the cold, but with challenge comes purpose.
6. Overcoming the cold shock leads to a dopamine release and an incredible energy boost.
7. Cold exposure gives you an incredible sense of clarity, as ‘thoughts [are] immediately cut off by the cold water’; you do not think, your body takes over and you focus on the cold. (Hof and De Jong, 2017). It is as if it gives the brain a chance to reset and then re-engage as it should.

All of a sudden, your shower could go from a chore, to the boost your mental and physical health needs.

Of course, you must build it up slowly. It is dangerous for your body’s core temperature to drop below 35 degree celsius. But little by little, you can switch from hot to cold for a longer period of time. To help make cold exposure a habit, it is important to log how you feel directly afterwards and so you can see the benefits the cold brought to you. The Innate app will help you record, remember and reflect, motivating you to take the plunge, day after day. Soon you’ll be the one bragging about your cold exposure routine!

I could go on and on about the benefits of cold exposure, but it would be better to stop reading and go take a cold shower. Just try 10 seconds today, then perhaps 20 tomorrow.

But, overall, yes– it seems justified that cold exposure is the new hot topic.

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