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

This is Sadia Badiei. A dietician by academic and professional background, she’s nowadays hung up her lab coat for a chef’s jacket, and is best known for her “Pick Up Limes” brand. Today, we’ll be taking her advice on managing energy levels with what’s on our plates!

Quick note: our usual medical/legal disclaimer applies, and this article cannot diagnose you from afar, and thus neither can it make any certain prescription; this is for educational purposes, and aimed at being applicable to most of our readers.

There are many possible things that can cause chronic fatigue, and not all of them can be fixed by diet. Your doctor will have access to tests and such that we, being a humble health science publication, do not.

You may recognize her; we’ve featured her videos occasionally, mostly recently:

Pick Up A Zest For Life: 10 Lessons For A Healthy Mind & Body

But, what does she want us to know about living life with more energy?

It starts with balance

Badiei makes the case that we should strive for a nutritionally-balanced diet; that may not come as much of a revelation, but what does that look like for a vegan (Badiei advocates for plant-based eating)?

She recommends that our diet consist of:

• About 50% fruits and vegetables
• About 25% grains and starches
• About 25% proteins
• Modest amounts of fats
• A little of well-chosen dairy substitutions
• Finally, a few judicious supplements to top it off

That does add up to more than 100%, but 1) we did say “About n%” and 2) this is not a bad thing to note, actually, since Badiei advocates (as we do) for focussing more on what we add into our diet, rather than what we take out.

Breaking it down a little further, she recommends making sure to get “the foundational seven”, which is a little like “Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen”, but in this case it’s counted on a per-food-type basis.

Thus, she recommends:

1. Dark green leafy vegetables
2. Assorted other non-starchy vegetables (your choice what kind)
3. Fruit, of any kinds (unlike Dr. Greger separating berries)
4. Grains and starches (so for example, potatoes are lumped in with rice here, botanically very different, but often fulfil a similar culinary role)
5. Nuts and seeds
6. Legumes
7. Fortified dairy alternatives

For full details including how much of each, and “what counts”, etc, see:

Pick Up Limes | The Nourish Method

Time your carbs

Slow-release carbohydrates, those with the most fiber, are best most of the time, giving us more sustained fuel, keeping us energized for longer after meals—even if we would rather sleep:

She cites: Fiber and Saturated Fat Are Associated with Sleep Arousals and Slow Wave Sleep

Quick-release carbohydrates, those with what’s generally considered a less favorable carb:fiber ratio, are best if we’re going to eat nearer to bedtime. We know, eating before bed is often considered a bit of a no-no, but Badiei bids us indulge if we so desire, as the quicker-absorbed carbohydrates support tryptophan reaching our brain more efficiently, and thus promote sleep onset.

See also: Should You Go Light Or Heavy On Carbs?

About that fat

We mentioned (or rather, Badiei’s citation mentioned) saturated fat. It is indeed linked with difficulty falling asleep, and/but omega-3 fatty acids, on the other hand, promote better sleep.

She cites: The relationship between sleep duration, sleep quality and dietary intake in adults

While you’re enjoying those nuts and seeds (for the omega-3 fatty acids), you might also note that several also star in Badiei’s list of plant-based foods that are rich in tryptophan, such as soy, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, beans, green vegetables, and mushrooms.

Micronutrients

Badiei’s focus here is on B-vitamins, iron, magnesium, selenium, and zinc. We imagine most of our readers here are taking steps to ensure to get a full daily coverage of vitamins and minerals anyway, but you might want to read what she has to say about iron on a plant-based diet, because the numbers may be different than you think.

The reason for this is that while animal products contain mostly heme iron, which is easier to absorb but associated with a risk increase in some diseases, plant-based foods usually* contain only non-heme iron, which is healthier but not as bioavailable, so if eating only plants, we need more of it:

Pick Up Limes | Iron on a Plant-Based Diet

*If you eat a carnivorous plant, guess what, it’ll have heme iron in it, tangling that food web.

“What if I know I have chronic fatigue for non-dietary reasons?”

Well, that sucks, and we’re not going to pretend the above will magically fix it. However, there are still things that can at least relatively improve your experience:

Eat To Beat Chronic Fatigue! Yes, Even When Fatigued Chronically

(it’s a good guide to being able to consistently eat healthily when your energy levels are consistently at minimal, meaning that a lot of common advice becomes unusable)

Take care!