Cold Shower

Leigh Ewin is a certified breathwork coach trained in various breathwork techniques including the Wim Hof Method, Oxygen Advantage, Breathology, and freediving. He has spent years exploring breathwork techniques to aid in anxiety, pain, stress relief and sports and athletic performance enhancement. He also leads cold exposure retreats where attendees dive under the ice.

Overview

This challenge aims to develop a daily practice of cold showers. Doing something difficult in the morning also gives momentum to begin the day and get sh*t done!

This challenge is very mental. Waking up in the morning and choosing to take the “harder path” and have a cold shower seemingly goes against all intuition and completely opposes the comfort factor.

Foundations

The Cold Shower Challenge is somewhat of a catalyst for everything else that occurs for the remainder of the day - so don't underestimate the impact of this one. Obviously, there is a huge mental benefit in the challenge but also some nice physical health benefits such as improved circulation, enhanced metabolic health, helps fight inflammation, and mitigates white blood cell production and cold is known to be good for the skin and collagen production. Cold exposure also increases norepinephrine, which promotes focus, vigilance, attention, and mood. If you stay in the cold shower a bit longer (over 2mins), you will also see a rise in dopamine levels.

Instructions

1. Wake up in the morning and head towards the shower.
2. Turn the shower on to the normal temperature. Have a shower and complete everything you would normally do in the shower, soap, wash, shave, etc.
3. Then when you are ready, turn the tap towards cold and stay in the cold water for 20 seconds or so.

Each day, you can stay a little longer in the cold until you reach a point where you can stay in for the entire length of the shower totally cold. I certainly encourage you to experiment with contrast showers too. This means 20 seconds cold and then alternating to 20 seconds warm - and back and forth - but always concluding with the cold.

As you are in the shower and have the cold water streaming on your body, move around to allow the water to hit different areas - for example, the chest, back, and arms and naturally the water will flow to the legs anyway. Time the breathing so that when the cold touches the chest you can complete the exhale - that can be a little sensitive area and can take the breath away.

Conclusion

This can also replace consuming caffeine in the morning because it lifts the mood and increases awareness/alertness within too!

Have fun with this one and see if you can embed this into your daily routine.