I have done contrast showers for years and there are proven benefits to the hot and cold contrast. Contrast showering is basically ‘therapeutic contrasting’ – the act of quickly changing body temperature from hot to cold and back again. This is usually done by immersing yourself in hot then cold water. Experts say the best results come not from one cold shower or bath but by alternating between hot and cold water. Also known as contrast water therapy.
Just a few minutes of a contrast shower can provide many benefits. The sudden burst of cold water will cause blood to flow to your vital organs, while also activating your parasympathetic nervous system. This can give you a huge boost in energy.
Because the shock of the cold water causes a type of stress reaction in the body, you’ll also be priming your adrenal glands to handle stress more efficiently. The cold water is also very stimulating for your brain, causing endorphins to be released quickly.
Benefits
1. CONTRAST SHOWERS BOOST CIRCULATION
Contrasting temperatures increase circulation by causing your heart to send blood rushing to your vital organs. Over time, this forces your circulatory system to become more efficient and adaptable.
This effect is due to your body’s instant response to protect your vital organs. When it senses an abrupt change to cold temperatures, your blood has to circulate faster to protect your organs.
Essentially, your body is trying to conserve its natural core temperature. Eventually, it allows you to adapt to the new environment, – i.e., one that involves regular ‘shocks’ of cold water. This means that contrast showers may make your circulatory system act more quickly and effectively.
2. CONTRAST SHOWERS BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Scientists have shown that switching between hot and cold water provides a substantial boost to your immune system. It appears that the contrast in temperature increases the number of disease-fighting immune system cells in your body, including an important type of white blood cell called monocytes.
Other sources say that alternating between hot and cold showers can help prevent common illnesses such as colds and flu. A study published by the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam reported that taking a contrast shower every day had a significant effect on employee’s susceptibility to illness. In fact, they found that the treatment reduced absences from work due to sickness by almost 30 per cent.
One of the most immediate benefits of contrast showers is in preventing exercise-related injuries such as DOMS. For this reason, contrast shower therapy is often used by elite athletes.
Exposure to cold water helps to reduce inflammation and injury by restricting blood flow to the affected area. High and low temperatures can have a major impact upon the amount of blood flow to the tissues, but at opposite extremes.
Cold temperatures cause blood vessels to shrink or tighten up, reducing blood flow and thus inflammation. This is known as vasoconstriction. Heat, on the other hand, causes vasodilation: the widening of blood vessels. Vasodilation allows more blood to flow to affected tissues or limbs.
4. CONTRAST SHOWERS MAY HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS
Although there’s a lack of scientific evidence, some reports claim that regular contrast showers may support or stimulate weight loss.
This is all to do with the different types of fat: brown fat and white fat. White fat refers to adipose fat, which is generally formed due to consuming excess calories. Brown fat, on the other hand, is the type located around the collar bones, neck, sternum and upper back. The brown fat is important because it generates fuel (heat) by burning white fat. Brown fat also helps to keep your body warm.
5. CONTRAST SHOWERS MAY HELP WITH DEPRESSION
It’s also been suggested that contrast showers help reduce depression or low mood by boosting the flow of blood to the brain.
Cold exposure increases your blood levels of endorphins and noradrenaline, which then increase the synaptic release of noradrenaline (also known as norepinephrine), to the brain. Endorphins have a pain-relieving effect, lowering your perception of discomfort. The stimulating effect of endorphins also boosts feelings of well-being.
At the same time, the fresh flow of blood bringing oxygen and nutrients to your brain and other organs. Detoxification of harmful toxins and other metabolites are also cleared out more efficiently.
Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits.
How in shape or out of shape you are? A result of your habits.
How happy or unhappy you are? A result of your habits.
How successful or unsuccessful you are? A result of your habits.
What you repeatedly do (i.e. what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) ultimately forms the person you are, the things you believe, and the personality that you portray.
But what if you want to improve? What if you want to form new habits? How would you go about it?
Turns out, there’s a helpful framework that can make it easier to stick to new habits so that you can improve your health, your work, and your life in general.
Let’s talk about that framework now…
Before we talk about how to get started, I wanted to let you know I researched and compiled science-backed ways to stick to good habits and stop procrastinating.
The 3 R’s of Habit Change
Every habit you have — good or bad — follows the same 3–step pattern.
I call this framework “The 3 R’s of Habit Change,” but I didn’t come up with this pattern on my own. It’s been proven over and over again by behavioural psychology researchers.
What a Habit Looks Like When Broken Down
Before we get into each step, let’s use the 3 R’s to break down a typical habit. For example, answering a phone call…
This is the reminder that initiates the behaviour. The ring acts as a trigger or cue to tell you to answer the phone. It is the prompt that starts the behaviour.
This is the actual behaviour. When your phone rings, you answer the phone.
This is the reward (or punishment, depending on who is calling). The reward is the benefit gained from doing the behaviour. You wanted to find out why the person on the other end was calling you and discovering that piece of information is the reward for completing the habit.
If the reward is positive, then you’ll want to repeat the routine the next time the reminder happens. Repeat the same action enough times and it becomes a habit. Every habit follows this basic 3–step structure.
All habits form by the same 3–step process. Here’s an example: the traffic light turns green, you drive through the intersection, you make it closer to your destination. Reminder, routine, reward.
How can you use this structure to create new habits and stick to them?
Here’s how…
Step 1: Set a Reminder for Your New Habit
If you talk to your friends about starting a new habit, they might tell you that you need to exercise self–control or that you need to find a new dose of willpower.
I disagree.
Getting motivated and trying to remember to do a new behaviour is the exact wrong way to go about it. If you’re a human, then your memory and your motivation will fail you. It’s just a fact.
This is why the reminder is such a critical part of forming new habits. A good reminder does not rely on motivation and it doesn’t require you to remember to do your new habit.
A good reminder makes it easy to start by encoding your new behaviour in something that you already do.
The act of brushing my teeth was something that I already did and it acted as the reminder to do my new behaviour.
To make things even easier and prevent myself from having to remember to floss, I bought a bowl, placed it next to my toothbrush, and put a handful of pre-made flossers in it. Now I see the floss every time I reach for my toothbrush.
Setting up a visible reminder and linking my new habit with current behaviour made it much easier to change. No need to be motivated. No need to remember.
It doesn’t matter if it’s working out or eating healthy or creating art, you can’t expect yourself to magically stick to a new habit without setting up a system that makes it easier to start.
How to Choose Your Reminder
Picking the correct reminder for your new habit is the first step to making change easier.
The best way I know to discover a good reminder for your new habit is to write down two lists. In the first list, write down the things that you do each day without fail.
For example…
You’ll often find that many of these items are daily health habits like washing your face, drinking morning tea, brushing your teeth, and so on. Those actions can act as reminders for new health habits. For example, “After I drink my morning tea, I meditate for 60 seconds.”
In the second list, write down the things that happen to you each day without fail.
For example…
With these two lists, you’ll have a wide range of things that you already do and already respond to each day. Those are the perfect reminders for new habits.
For example, let’s say you want to feel happier. Expressing gratitude is one proven way to boost happiness. Using the list above, you could pick the reminder “sit down for dinner” and use it as a cue to say one thing that you’re grateful for today.
“When I sit down for dinner, I say one thing that I’m grateful for today.”
That’s the type of small behaviour that could blossom into a more grateful outlook on life in general.
Step 2: Choose a Habit That’s Incredibly Easy to Start
Make it so easy you can’t say no.
It’s easy to get caught up in the desire to make massive changes in your life. We watch incredible weight loss transformations and think that we need to lose 30 pounds in the next 4 weeks. Elite athletes on TV and wish that we could run faster and jump higher tomorrow. We want to earn more, do more, and be more … right now.
I’ve felt those things too, so I get it. And in general, I applaud the enthusiasm. I’m glad that you want great things for your life and I want to do what I can to help you achieve them. But it’s important to remember that lasting change is a product of daily habits, not once–in–a–lifetime transformations.
If you want to start a new habit and begin living healthier and happier, then I have one suggestion that I cannot emphasis enough: start small. In the words of Leo Babauta, “make it so easy that you can’t say no.”
How small? BJ Fogg suggests that people who want to start flossing begin by only flossing one tooth. Just one.
In the beginning, performance doesn’t matter. Become the type of person who always sticks to your new habit. You can build-up to the level of performance that you want once the behaviour becomes consistent.
Here’s your action step: Decide what want your new habit to be. Now ask yourself, “How can I make this new behaviour so easy to do that I can’t say no?”
What is Your Reward?
It’s important to celebrate. (I think that’s just as true in life as it is with habits.)
We want to continue doing things that make us feel good. And because an action needs to be repeated for it to become a habit, you must reward yourself each time you practice your new habit.
For example, if I’m working towards a new fitness goal, then I’ll often tell myself at the end of a workout, “That was a good day.” Or, “Good job. You made progress today.”
If you feel like it, you could even tell yourself “Victory!” or “Success!” each time you do your new habit.
I haven’t done this myself, but some people swear by it.
Give yourself some credit and enjoy each success.
Related note: Only go after habits that are important to you. It’s tough to find a reward when you’re simply doing things because other people say they are important.
Where to Go From Here
In general, you’ll find that these three steps fit almost any habit. The specifics, however, may take some work.
You might have to experiment before you find the right cue that reminds you to start a new habit. You might have to think a bit before figuring out how to make your new habit so easy that you can’t say no. And rewarding yourself with positive self–talk can take some getting used to if you’re not someone who typically does that.
I have written about this subject in the past the power of Nature the outdoors and mental health. We are living in very strange times. Nature the outdoors and mental health, my medicine, my antidepressants, my therapy room and all free of cost to myself and the NHS.
I have suffered from mental health issues for longer than I have ever admitted to anyone. The first time I saw a doctor regarding my mental health was over 20 years ago, I was prescribed antidepressants and signed off work. As with every other time I have talked with anyone I sort of brushed it aside, never took the meds and self-medicated in one way or another with drink and drugs.
I have drunk since I was a teen and at times taken various recreational drugs. Along with smoking, I have not touched any form of drug in well over 15 years and in that time I have had no desire or need to use them since. I have gone periods of time without drink be that at times in the army where it was not permitted and other times I have chosen to myself. The thing is I always drift back to it starting with the odd beer and escalating to binge drinking anything and everything that has been in the house, the last time that was 6 beers, 2.5 bottles of wine and half a bottle of gin. My theory if I drink it all then there’s none here for me to drink.
The Outdoors
There is one constant throughout my whole life, when I get down, feel shit or need time then it is the outdoors I go to. Ever since I was a child I have loved the outdoors and in particular water, I tend to gravitate towards water. When I was younger it would be fishing, swimming in the brook, the acid pool or riding our homemade bikes to gypos tump a spot on the river Usk where we would spend the day. We would be out from the time we got up until shouts rang out around the streets of mum’s calling us in. Back then I doubt any of us or many others realised the benefits of nature the outdoors and mental health.
Spending time in green space or bringing nature into your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. For example, doing things like growing food or flowers, exercising outdoors or being around animals can have lots of positive effects. It can:
improve your mood
reduce feelings of stress or anger
help you take time out and feel more relaxed
improve your physical health
improve your confidence and self-esteem
help you be more active
help you make new connections
provide peer support.
My escape
Every day I give gratitude for having easy access to green spaces, from my door I can walk into the Brecon Beacons national park along the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal, walk the other way and I can walk the Usk Valley Walk. This super waterside walk follows the River Usk, the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal and the Brecon and Newport Canal from Caerleon to Brecon. The walk passes through Abergavenny and Usk and is enclosed by beautiful hills for the whole of its length. There are numerous woodland walks within easy access as well. There are numerous images of my walks in the gallery of my photography. My other escape in normal times outside these crazy pandemic times is the coast, I love the sea be it being by the sea or in and on the water. West Wales is my spiritual home and has a special draw for me.
My medicine
I have no doubt that being outdoors boosts my mental health and well being. The boost to my vitamin D from exposure to sunlight. Physical benefits to health be it from walking, riding my bike or doing things in and on the water. There are of course numerous benefits to mental health from exercise. I have never enjoyed running even when I was fit and healthy it is not the exercise for me, I can walk for miles, ride my bike for hours (after I get the bum accustomed to the saddle again).
During this episode of poor mental health and this crazy period in our lives. I have got out for my walks when at my lowest, spent time along the canal and river. Foraged wild garlic on the banks of the Usk while observing nature that seems to be in abundance right now, down to the millions of tadpoles in the canal right now. I have sat in the woods meditating while squirrels run less than 6foot from me going about their daily business.
Nature and the outdoors are truly remarkable in the power they have to ground us and change our whole physiology in such a short space of time.
I realise not everybody has access to such amazing green spaces such as I do. We all, in general, have access to some green space. I grew up on one of Newport’s toughest estates but still spent time in nature. Escaping the urban concrete jungle to spend time in the woods, fields, streams and ponds. Give it a go and get outdoors you will not regret it.
