Growing up, it was made clear that cold was something to avoid. And for good reason, cold can damage or slow the functioning of our bodies, even potentially causing death if we remain at a low enough temperature for long enough. But that doesn’t mean the cold will always hurt us. In fact, new research is showing us that cold exposure can actually be beneficial.
And while science is starting to show the benefits of cold exposure, ways to get that cold exposure and benefit from it are coming out. For example, maybe you’ve heard of Wim Hof, “The Iceman.” Wim is a Dutchman who has been bringing cold exposure to the masses by claiming and demonstrating the benefits. He holds 26 world records including longest ice bath. I first saw him a few years back on a Vice documentary, and since then I've practiced his methods to a small degree with decent results. Since that documentary he's gained a huge following and many people swear by his methods. This year I plan on implementing certain forms of cold exposure and I will definitely try out his methods again.
Other methods I've seen are cold water baths, cryothearpy chambers, ice lake plunges, walking barefoot/bareback in snow, or even things as simple as cold showers.
Montana winters get pretty cold, I walk outside almost everyday and I can feel my body tensing up as the cold air hits me. Usually I underdress for the weather unless I know I'll be outside all day snowboarding or something. The reason I do is to try to embrace the cold.
In my opinion, part of the reason we get so cold is because we shy away from it. We tense up when we feel the cold air because we've told ourselves cold is bad all our lives. I used to always hear that I'd catch a cold if I didn't bundle up, but when has being cold or in a cold environment ever directly caused a sickness.
Since we believe cold is bad, we avoid it, even when we can't avoid it. When we're outside and it's cold and we can't get away from the fact, even then we try to avoid it. We do this with little bits of tension we carry in our body. When we embrace the cold, we allow our body to lose this tension, which means we feel the cold instead of numbing ourselves to it. Once we do this our bodies function more naturally, our hearts start pumping blood to warm the cold areas, this can be hugely beneficial for our circulation. Ever notice how when you come inside on a cold day you feel hot for a little while? Utilizing cold therapy we can improve our normal circulation, cold feet and hands can be a thing of the past.
So I challenge you to test out cold exposure. Start small with cold water for a minute to finish off your shower, step out into your backyard for a minute in just your skivvies, or simply try to embrace the cold when your out and about, don't get so bundled up you're toasty everywhere, even little bits of cold exposure can reveal how you react to cold.
So test it out and let me know what you think in the comments. If you enjoyed this article don't forget to upvote, resteem, and follow me!
Disclaimer: Don't push this too far, cold still has real danger and you can be seriously injured if you overdo it.
I enjoyed reading this post because I have experienced the change in attitude towards cold myself. It was a friend of mine who introduced me to this topic and the new knowledge completely changed the "MEANING" of cold for me. The term "meaning" is very important here and I have used this little mind "trick" when I want to dedicate to something. I would recommend reading William James's books on truth and meaning. It will open your mind on how we related to these two terms. Once I dived into the topic of cold, the meaning of cold changed for me. If the meaning changes, the experiences changes too. The previously unpleasant experience of staying in the cold, became pleasant, because it had a different meaning/utility. You don't believe me? Think of something that is painful and unpleasant to others, but you do it effortlessly. This is because it has a different meaning for you, than it does for them. Read on the benefits cold brings to the body and then when you do what the writer of this article suggests, you will have a different view on why you are doing what you are doing. This is how things get easy to do. They have a stronger meaning for you. Start with little steps. Leave the house little underdressed and experience some cold. When the mild unpleasant feeling hits you, you will ask yourself "Why am I doing this?! ". Well, if you have read on how cold is beneficial for you, you will have a good answer. If you have a good answer, guess what? You will feel less cold. Trust me. This has worked for me and not just for my relationship to cold.
Play a bit with this idea.
Absolutely, when we assign a meaning to something, we believe that it will cause or act in a certain way on us, so changing the meaning or belief changes everything. Believing something means good will allow us to really accept that thing instead of trying to shut it out because it's "bad"
Thanks for the tip on the author, he seems up my alley. I read some William Walker Atkinson back in the day and he seems similar.
Dude I live in Florida....cold isnt our thing here.
Hahaha, honestly, I could use some sun, I'm getting really pale. Ahhh, the downsides of winter(along with poor driving conditions, higher heat bills, going to and getting off work when it's dark, etc)... At least you have easy access to the sun!
You could always test out some cold showers or cryotherapy. I know they have those cryo things in LA, not sure about Florida.
Also, do you suggest upvoting your own comments, and what is a typical voting power used on comments?
I do not upvote my own comments....only my posts. Comments are for the author of the post or the comment that I am replying to. I let them or other commenters decide if the comment is worth an upvote.
It varies...since I vote most everyone, I personally give the good post thank you types 1% and work up from there. It depends upon the number of comments I am receiving and how many posts.
Since I got a ton of commenting of late, I had to scale the percentage down to make sure I had enough VP for everyone.
I would say the norm is 1%-10% with a few exceeding that.
Unless it is later in the night and I have some VP left over unused before I go to bed.
That's kind of how I think of things too, no need to upvote my own comments, I'd rather see if someone else found it useful. Thanks for the great reply and if you ever have advice on how to better use steemit I'm open to it, you've been very helpful so far, both in word and as an example.
There’s a 20 below windchill out there right now.
Fun times in Minnesota!
Dang that's chilly! Definitely not the time to practice cold exposure, at least when just starting, I wonder how somebody like Wim Hof would handle that. We used to get crazy windchills where I grew up in Great Falls, one day when I was in high school it was -60.
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