Dr. Ian's Cold Plunge

Cold Therapy Benefits

Thanks to @wimhof (“The Ice Man”) and his massive following, cold therapy (particularly ice baths) are gaining popularity faster than ever. Many have reported immense benefits from this exercise, including activating the body’s natural healing powers especially in the immune, lymphatic, circulatory and digestive systems. 

This is something I have been doing for a few years now and have noticed major benefits both physically and mentally. Is the extreme discomfort worth the results? Swipe to see a few of my favorite benefits:

• More Circulation

  • As cold water hits the body and external limbs, it constricts circulation on the body’s surface, causing deeper tissues to circulate faster. It forces the body to work harder to maintain its core temperature- more blood flow means higher nutrient-transfer throughout the body.

• Better Sleep

  • Because ice baths can help with the central nervous system and the regulation of cortisol levels, those who regularly do this report deeper sleep and quicker times falling asleep. 

• Muscle Therapy, Anti-inflammation, Reducing Chronic Pain

  • Athletes are well-known ice bath enthusiasts because of the therapeutic effect on the muscles, especially post-workout. The regenerative properties of cold water help muscles to relax and repair, allowing quicker recovery and less soreness.

• Boosts Mental Clarity, Energy Levels, and Mood

  • The electrical impulses to your brain jolts your system to increased alertness, clarity, and energy levels. Endorphins are also released, leading to a felling of well-being and optimism.

• Immune System

  • Cold showers have been shown to increase white blood cells, which protect the body against diseases. A 2016 study showed that participants were 29% less likely to need to call in sick to work when regularly taking cold showers. 

• Improved Response to Stress & More Willpower

  • While the physical benefits are great, the effects of cold therapy on the mind are what make this especially powerful. Cold water is not comfortable. It can even be described as painful! The cold shock that tells everything in your body to get out of the water or turn that handle to warm is overwhelming. However, if the mind can find a way to allow the body to endure for a few minutes, the body acclimates. This practice equips the mind to respond to stressful situations throughout the day more readily and significantly improves your willpower.

Cold Water Plunge

The more wins you have in the morning, the more momentum you have for the rest of the day! 

One morning win that repeatedly transforms my day is cold therapy. Whether in a pool, bath, or shower, I try to include some type of cryotherapy in my morning routine at least 3 times a week. 

My energy is through the roof, my mental clarity is unbelievable, and my mind & body are strong and ready for the day. 

While it is extremely uncomfortable and sometimes painful, this mental and physical exercise builds mental strength along with many other health benefits that I have found to be irreplaceable!

The Gratitude Visit

A study involving 186 men and women who had been diagnosed with asymptomatic (Stage B) heart failure for at least three months, showed “that more gratitude in these patients was associated with better mood, better sleep, less fatigue and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health,” said lead author Paul J. Mills, PhD, professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego.

The gratitude activity exercised by participants is called The Gratitude Visit. It is a powerful exercise that can bring instant and lasting joy in your life.

Directions: Close your eyes. Call up the face of someone still alive who years ago did something or said something that changed your life for the better. Someone who you never properly thanked; someone you could meet face-to-face next week. Got a face?

Your task is to write a letter of gratitude to this individual and deliver it in person. The letter should be concrete and about three hundred words: be specific about what she did for you and how it affected your life. Let her know what you are doing now, and mention how you often remember what she did. Make it sing!

Once you have written the testimonial, call the person and tell her you’d like to visit her, but be vague about the purpose of the meeting; this exercise is much more fun when it is a surprise. When you meet her, take your time reading your letter.

If the only possible way of doing this is by mailing the letter, that is meaningful as well. I have done this several times and it is extremely fulfilling. It takes a little bit of time and can be intimidating, but I promise it is worth it. Enjoy!

The Effects of Gratitude on Your Health

Do we express gratitude merely because it is nice to be nice? Do we express gratitude often and authentically? I think we could all attest to the psychological improvements from regularly expressing gratitude. But did you know that there is suggestive evidence that gratitude can actually improve your health? 

In a study involving 186 men and women who had been diagnosed with asymptomatic (Stage B) heart failure for at least three months, they found “that more gratitude in these patients was associated with better mood, better sleep, less fatigue and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers related to cardiac health,” said lead author Paul J. Mills, PhD, professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego. 

Here are some ways that cultivating a lifestyle of gratitude can benefit your health. 

• Sleep

  • Multiple studies show that gratitude correlated with improved sleep quality, less time required to fall asleep, and increased sleep duration.

• Overall happiness

  • 5 minutes of daily gratitude journaling showed a 10% increase in long-term happiness. (Emmons & McCullough, 2003; Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005)

• Help mental health

  • Gratitude visits reduced depressive symptoms by 35% for several weeks; a gratitude journal lowered depressive symptoms by 30%+ for as long as the practice was continued. (Seligman, 2005).

• Reduce blood pressure

  • Patients with hypertension were instructed to count their blessings once a week. There was a significant decrease in their systolic blood pressure. (Shipon, 2007).

• Decrease stress

  • The emotions of appreciation and gratitude shown to induce the relaxation response. 2004. 

• Increased energy

  • Expressing gratitude increases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which increases energy, improves brain function, and helps us feel more motivated.

Are There Health Benefits to Journaling?

When was the last time you wrote your thoughts down? Did you notice how therapeutic it was? Did you notice more clarity? More relief? Maybe it has been a while since you have done any kind of expressive journaling (maybe you have never tried it). If so, I think you will be amazed at how much it can do for you. Journaling has been shown to help:

• Organize the mind

• Work through emotions

• Channel creativity

• Gain a greater appreciation for life

• Alleviate anxiety/depression

• Improve mood

• Reduce stress

• Become friendlier

• Become more goal oriented

• Solve problems

There are many forms of journaling, but here are a few styles and principles that my patients and I have found helpful. Test, mix and match these different styles to fit your needs, but most importantly, try it. If you can manage to work this into your routine at least 1-3x/week, you will thank me later.

• Use pen: Pen (or thin tip markers) commit you to your writing rather than spending time erasing. Also, typing is less preferable to handwriting. 

• Get visual: Map out graphs, diagrams, or other visuals for your complicated thoughts. 

• Don’t be intimidated: It doesn’t need to be perfect or eloquent. This is your therapy journal. It’s not a biography for your later posterity. No one is going to publish this later. Don’t worry about the end product. It is a single experience to be enjoyed each time. 

• Post-Exercise: Right after you get done exercising or meditating is a great time to pull all the thoughts from your head onto paper.

• Before bed: Right before bed is also a great time to pour your thoughts out of your head and into your journal. 

• Poetry: Some of my patients find poetry (especially free verse) a powerful tool of expression.

• Goals: What does the future look like? What do you want to achieve? What would you like to improve? Big picture dreams? Immediate actions?

• Ideas: Have an interesting (or uninteresting) idea? What about something innovative? Philosophical? 

• Questions: What questions are you wrestling with? What resources do you have to approach them? 

• Gratitude: This is a game-changing approach that should be implemented at least weekly. At first they might be the generic, basic things, but as you continue doing this, you will become more specific and more aware of all the great things around you. 

• Spirituality: Record your spiritual experiences. What happened? What were the emotions? How did this change you? 

• Timer: Set a timer. 10 minutes is a great place to start. Setting a timer will induce urgency to write, rather than let your mind wander. 

• Write lists: Sometimes you have so much zooming around in your head, it’s nice to just get it down on paper in an organized way.

• Stream of consciousness: Without any agenda or purpose, just start moving your hand and pen on the paper. Write the first thing that comes to mind. Go with the flow. 

• Keep it positive: It’s okay to write about things you want to improve, or vent about something that is bothering you, but don’t let negativity become the theme of your writing experience. Seek solutions and serenity with this exercise.

Visualize Your Way to Better Health

Visualization has been used for centuries to convert ideas into reality. Elite athletes are very familiar with visualization exercises because it has been shown to improve performance again and again. In fact, studies have shown that even those who just think about exercise are able to maintain and increase performance. Similar results have been found in musical skills, public speaking, and goal setting. This has to do with the fact that the neurons in our brains do not completely make the distinction between imagery and real action. Though visualization exercises should not replace the actual events themselves, they can be a powerful tool in achieving and improving them. Here are some principles to help you visualize your way to better health!

1. Be as detailed as possible (use senses): What is it you want to actualize? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Smell like? Taste like? Sound like? What will life be like when you accomplish it? Feel those feelings. Elite athletes see in clear detail what that championship looks and feels like.

2. Picture the exact steps you will take to get there: What does the journey look like? What obstacles will you face? How will you overcome them? Again, be as detailed as possible.

3. Physically manifest: Take your visualizations and transfer them to a tangible format. This could be a dream/vision board. It could be writing them down in a journal. It could be verbal affirmations. 

4. Express gratitude: Live as you already have achieved the goal. Feel those feelings you have visualized. Feel deep gratitude for the goal you have accomplished. Gratitude is the deepest emotion connected to actualization.

5. Put in the work: Continue to foster gratitude and those feelings associated with your visualization as you make physical progress towards the goal. 

There are many techniques for practicing visualization. I like to implement it as part of my daily meditation practice and cold shower exercises. Find a technique that allows you to practice this consistently.

The Relaxation Response: A Grounding Technique

The Relaxation Response

Professor, author, cardiologist, and founder of Harvard’s Mind/Body Medical Institute, Dr. Herbert Benson, developed the Relaxation Response as a method of allowing the body to physiologically relax itself. Dr. Benson described it as, “a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress… and the opposite of the fight or flight response.”

Stress-related symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches, upset stomach, racing heartbeat, and shallow breathing, can be subsided by the Relaxation Response. Research has shown that the Relaxation Response can help stress-related disorders such as fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal ailments, insomnia, hypertension, and anxiety disorders. 

Benefits of the Relaxation Response

• Decreased heart rate

• Decreased blood pressure

• Lower respiratory rate

• Lower pulse rate

• Decreased oxygen consumption

• Decreased muscle tension

• Reduction of cortisol

• Reduction of noradrenaline

Relaxation Response Steps:

1. Sit quietly in a comfortable position.

2. Close your eyes.

3. Deeply relax all your muscles, beginning at your feet and progressing up to your face. Keep them relaxed.

4. Breathe through your nose. Become aware of your breathing. As you breathe out, say the word, “one” (or any soothing, pleasant sound, preferably with no meaning or association, to avoid stimulation of unnecessary thoughts.), silently to yourself.

   1. For example, breathe in ... out, “one”, breathe in ... out, “one”, etc.

   2. Breathe easily and naturally.

5. Continue for 10 to 20 minutes.

   1. You may open your eyes to check the time, but do not use an alarm.

   2. When you finish, sit quietly for several minutes, at first with your eyes closed and later with your eyes opened.

   3. Do not stand up for a few minutes.

Do not worry about whether you are successful in achieving a deep level of relaxation. Maintain a passive attitude and permit relaxation to occur at its own pace. When distracting thoughts occur, try to ignore them by not dwelling upon them and return to repeating “one.” 

With practice, the response should come with little effort. Practice the technique once or twice daily, but not within two hours after any meal, since the digestive processes seem to interfere with the elicitation of the Relaxation Response.

Source: http://www.relaxationresponse.org