Wim Hof has been showing up in my data stream for a while now. The Ice Man. Cold showers. Words like ‘heat shock proteins’ and ‘cold shock proteins’. The effect that breathing has on your overall well being.
Today the final algorhythmic straw broke the camels back and I took my first cold shower. I didn’t completely dive right in, but followed his advice from the last bit of this February 2021 interview. I took my normal shower then for the last 30 seconds switched the water to cold.
It was fine. I tolerated the cold well and it actually felt invigorating. I focused on breathing and relaxing into the sensation.
I don’t know exactly how this will progress, but my plan is to continue adapting my body to the cold gradually. I’ll read more about his specific breathing techniques and change things as necessary. I’ll also document the process in the same way that I did with my intermittent fasting journal.
- Wednesday, September 1, 2021 / Day 1 / Normal shower then 30 seconds cold shower.
- Thursday, September 2, 2021 / I almost forgot to to this today.
- Friday, September 3, 2021 / It’s easier than it was on day 1.
- Monday, September 6, 2021 / The toughest thing so far about this is remembering to do it. It’s easier to relax into the cold now.
- Saturday, September 11, 2021 / I had to take a shower today in a different location and the hot/cold combination was hard to maintain. The cold that I had exposed myself to over the last 10 days made it a lot easier to deal with this. Also my cold 30 seconds was a lot colder than it has been, but it was no big deal.
- Friday, October 8, 2021 / Still going. 36 days and counting.
- Wednesday, November 10, 2021 / It’s been 70 days since I started this challenge and in the interest of full disclosure I forgot to end my shower with 30 seconds of cold water today. It just slipped my mind. I’m still committed to working with this, and hopefully I’m seeing some medical benefits as well.
- Saturday, November 13, 2021 / I did 60 seconds today and it felt great!
- Tuesday, February 15, 2022 / I’ve been keeping up with the cold showers these past months but I skipped it today and may skip it the next few days. I’m working through an injury and I’m on the fence about how the cold might affect it.
- Monday, February 21, 2022 / I had to take a cold shower today.
- Wednesday, June 23, 2022 / I almost forgot to end the shower with my one minue of cold. I’d turned turned the water off but then realized I’d forgotten. I got back in and did two minutes. I’ve been doing this for 293 days.
- Monday, October 24th, 2022 / 1 year, 1 month & 23 days / This is a part of my daily life now. It’s just something that I do.