Today I have a (frozen) goodie for you. Actually I have to thank you. I would have never tried this one if it were not to bring you a great exercise to easily train willpower. Then I experienced a bit of pain and a whole basket of benefits.

Curious what I am talking about? It’s having a COLD SHOWER in the morning.

If you would have told me that I’d ever do a podcast about having a cold shower half a year ago I would have called you crazy.

But after two months of cold showers in a row, I have to introduce you to this special tool.

There are tremendous amounts of benefits that are all built around exposing our bodies to the cold. As a result, they have created an entire therapy form called CRYotherapy (love that way to spell it) all around it.

• a strengthened immune system
• reduced inflammation
• reduced anxiety
• lifted mood

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Digging into this topic was somewhat fascinating and brought me to actually create a new habit of going cold at least 200 times this year.

To reap the entire benefits we have to expose our bodies to the cold for 3-5 minutes. I always have my hot shower first and then do these 5 steps:

• start deep breathing exercise for 15 – 30 seconds before I go cold
• flip the tap to the coldest water I can get and focus on continuously breathing deeply
• turn around occasionally that my front and back get exposed to the cold equally
• get out of the shower after 4-5 minutes
• feel awesome, energized and wide awake

To get the timing right I use music in the bathroom. My playlist gives is the time giver here. Listening to the first song on the playlist gives me 4:02 for my hot shower. After that first song, I turn the tap to the cold leaving me with a 3:30 long song which is my minimum mark. Usually, I stay until the first refrain of the third song to get out of the shower again.

Well, it turns out there are a lot of ways that we can utilize the cold shower experience.

Firstly – we activate a process called hormesis that will improve the overall strength of our bodies and this effect will also leave us with better quality sleep.

Secondly – when showering in the morning – we can use this as an additional clear signal to our bodies that the day has started and connected our biorhythm to the day-night cycle (circadian rhythm).

Thirdly – we will be wide awake, even after a mediocre night.

We can also use this to train our willpower and strengthen our ability to focus on the present moment making it easier for us to fall asleep without anxiety, worries, and anger at night.

If this got you inspired to join me in the cold shower experience, share your experience with me and the community on Join the Facebook and Instagram.

Have a superb sleep!