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A Cold Shower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?
Plus: Stretching to Stay Young
The 10almonds Team
April 18, 2023
❝I’m happy, but I’m not content❞
⏰ IN A RUSH?
Today’s 30-Second Summary
If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:
Cold—in regular controlled exposure periods—is good for the health (some caveats apply—see main feature!)
This has many factors but the biggest is that the temperature change triggers a switch between vasodilation and vasoconstriction, which improves the vascular muscle tone.
This improves the body’s ability to regulate itself, because it has a trained quick-response, rather than “it’s a year since we felt what cold is, what is this” sluggishness.
It also means that when part of your body needs more nutrients / oxygen / antibodies or anything else from your blood, your blood vessels are quick to dilate or contract accordingly.
This also may can help make you more resistant to many diseases, and/or manage chronic conditions better.
It’s been found to be particularly helpful with inflammatory / autoimmune conditions, and as a preventative for woes relating to circulation.
Read on to learn about these things and more…
👀 WATCH AND LEARN
Dr. Ruth Kundsin (104 years old) - Fitness Granny's Secret
Dr. Kundsin worked as a microbiologist and retired at the age of 81. She became one of the first female professors at Harvard, and is the author of 150 publications. She also wrote five books, and has 52 medals in swimming. Watch this video to learn more about this inspiring woman:
❄️ MAIN FEATURE
A Cold Shower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away?
This is Dutch extreme athlete Wim Hof, also known as "The Iceman"! He's broken many world records mostly relating to the enduring the cold, for example:
climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in shorts
running a half-marathon above the Arctic Circle barefoot
standing in a container completely covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes
You might not want to do yoga in your pyjamas on an iceberg, but you might like...
better circulatory health
reduced risk of stroke
a boosted immune system
healthier skin
more energy and alertness
...and things like that. Wim Hof's method is not just about extreme athletic achievements; most of what he does, the stuff that can benefit the rest of us, is much more prosaic.
The Wim Hof Method
For Wim Hof, three things are key:
Breathing (See: Wim Hof Method Breathing Exercises)
Commitment (See: How to Increase Willpower)
Cold therapy (See: Benefits of Cold Therapy)
Today, we're going to be focusing on the last one there.
What are the benefits of Cold Therapy?
Once upon a time, we didn't have central heating, electric blankets, thermal underwear, and hot showers. In fact, once upon a time, we didn't have houses or clothes. We used to be a lot more used to the elements! And while it's all well and good to enjoy modern comforts, it has left our bodies lacking practice.
Practice at what? Most notably: vasodilation and vasoconstriction, in response to temperature changes. Either:
vasodilation, because part of our body needs more blood to keep it warm and nourished, or
vasoconstriction, because part of our body needs less blood running through it to get cooled down.
Switching between the two gives the blood vessels practice at doing it, and improves vascular muscle tone. If your body doesn't get that practice, your blood vessels will be sluggish at making the change. This can cause circulation problems, which in turn have a big impact in many other areas of health, including:
cardiovascular disease
stroke risk
mood instability
nerve damage in extremities
On the flipside, if the blood vessels do get regular practice at dilating and constricting, you might enjoy lower risk of those things, and instead:
improved immune response
healthier skin
better quality sleep
more energy and alertness
improved sexual performance/responsiveness
So, how to get that, without getting extreme?
As today's title suggests, "a cold shower a day" is a great practice.
You don't have to jump straight in, especially if you think your circulation and vascular responses might be a bit sluggish in the first instance. In fact, Wim Hof recommends:
Week 1: Thirty seconds of cold water at the end of a warm shower each morning
Week 2: One minute of cold water at the end of a warm shower each morning
Week 3: A minute and a half of cold water at the end of a warm shower each morning
Week 4: Two minutes of cold water at the end of a warm shower each morning
How cold is cold?
The benefits of cold exposure begin at around 16ºC / 60ºF, so in most places, water from the cold water mains is sufficiently cold.
As your body becomes more used to making the quick-change on a vascular level, the cold water will seem less shocking to your system. In other words, on day 30 it won't hit you like it did on day one.
At that point, you can either continue with your two-minutes daily cold shower, and reap the benefits, or if you're curious to push it further, that's where ice baths come in!
Can anyone do it, or are any conditions contraindicated?
As ever, we're a health and productivity newsletter, not doctors, let alone your doctors. Nothing here is medical advice. However, Wim Hof himself says:
❝Listen to your body, and never force the practices. We advise against doing Wim Hof Method if you are dealing with any of the following:
Epilepsy
High blood pressure
Coronary heart disease
A history of serious healthy issues like heart failure or stroke
Pregnancy*
Childhood*❞
*There is simply not enough science regarding the effects of cold exposure on people who are pregnant, or children. Obviously, we don't expect this to be remedied anytime soon, because the study insitutions' ethics boards would (rightly!) hold up the study.
As for the other conditions, and just generally if unsure, consult a doctor.
As you can see, this does mean that a limitation of Cold Therapy is that it appears to be far better as a preventative, since it helps guard against the very conditions that could otherwise become contraindications.
We haven't peppered today's main feature with study papers, partly because Wim Hof's own website has kindly collated a collection of them (with links and summaries!) onto one page:
Further reading: The Science Behind The Wim Hof Method
🌎 AROUND THE WEB
What’s happening in the health world…
More to come tomorrow!
📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW
Stretching to Stay Young: Simple Workouts to Keep You Flexible, Energized, and Pain Free - by Jessica Matthews
A lot of stretching gurus (especially the Instagrammable kind) offer advices like "if you can't do the splits balanced between two chairs to start with, that's fine... just practise by doing the splits against a wall first!"
Jessica Matthews, meanwhile, takes a more grounded approach. A lot of this is less like yoga and more like physiotherapy—it's uncomplicated and functional. There's nothing flashy here... just the promise of being able to thrive in your body; supple and comfortable, doing the activities that matter to you.
On which note: the book gives advices about stretches for before and after common activities, for example:
a bedtime routine set
a pre-gardening set
a post-phonecall set
a level-up-your golf set
a get ready for dancing set
...and many more. Whether "your thing" is cross-country skiing or knitting, she's got you covered.
The book covers the whole body from head to toe. Whether you want to be sure to stretch everything, or just work on a particular part of your body that needs special attention, it's there... with beautifully clear illustrations (the front cover illustration is indicative of the style—note how the muscle being stretched is highlighted in orange, too) and simple, easy-to-understand instructions.
All in all, we're none of us getting any younger, but we sure can take some of our youth into whatever years come next. This is the stuff that life is made of!
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Wishing you vitality and vigor,
The 10almonds Team