[00:00] Welcome back to the Focus B show. This is Katie Sudddhart here aka the focus b. And on this show, I interview high performers and leaders around the world to discover their secrets on peak performance, productivity, mindfulness, and leadership. So if you want to take your performance and your leadership to the next level, then you're in the right place. Listen up and connect with the magic.
[00:36] Welcome to a new episode of the Focus V show. Today we're going to talk about cold showers. I am so passionate about this topic. The while people knew me as a cold showers girl in my coworking space, I talk about this a lot. And obviously I'm going to link in the show notes to Wim Hof's website because he's the expert on this and not me. However, I would still like to dedicate an episode as to why I feel that cold showers are so magical and so wonderful and so great. And I talk about them so much that many of my friends have started to incorporate cold showers as part of their daily routine. First of all, cold showers are one of the best ways to increase alertness and to put us in a good mood. I notice a huge difference between the mornings where I have my cold showers versus the few mornings where I might skip it or doing it later during the day. It really increases that sense of alertness, of awakeness, of focus. And obviously, as the Focus be, I am highly passionate about being focused and being alert while we work. So this is one aspect that I feel that many people don't know or think about. But trust me, if you take a cold shower, especially in these winter months, first thing in the morning, it really, really wakes you up. But not just physically for a bit, but mentally. This mental alertness is really quite amazing. The same goes if you're doing a cold dip in a lake or in the sea. You'll notice that afterwards you feel vivid and awake and fresh and focused. It's fantastic. Seriously. It's an amazing feeling. A bit like after exercising. And obviously if you combine both, which is what I do, starting with exercise and then following with cold shower, you get both the benefits of the exercise, which also wakes you up, and then the cold shower. And this is another benefit of cold showers is it helps with muscle recuperation and it helps it better in our body, helps us to improve how we feel in general and also after exercising. This is why many athletes take cold showers or ice bath. I know I'm not yet at the stage where I take ice baths. I might in the future. I'm open to it. For now, I really just enjoy the cold showers. Second aspect is it is absolutely fantastic for your immune system. I don't quite know how or why. I think there's a billion different reasons. I've read about it but I feel that again, I want to link to Wim HOF who's the expert on this but it does really help us to boost our immune system. It's quite magical really if you take cold showers all year long. I know people who've been doing it for 234567 years and they haven't been thick once. Not a cold, not a cough, nothing. So maybe they're doing other things right too. Probably. They're probably also eating well and exercising and maybe getting enough sleep. Probably all of them combined. But many people have told me that since they've implemented cold showers in their daily life they haven't been sick at all. That's a pretty cool benefit. Don't know about you. Sounds pretty good to me. On top of that, it helps you get rid of bad cholesterol and promotes good cholesterol. It makes your skin and your hair look nice. I mean, it has so many benefits, it's incredible. But one of the main aspects that I feel is maybe the fundamental reasons why cold showers are so great is because it helps us to increase our willpower. When you start the day on top of that with a workout your body and your mind will feel this resistance, right? You might not fancy doing your workout or you definitely won't fancy having a cold shower especially in the winter months in Sweden it's cold. And therefore when you push yourself to do this not only are you increasing your discipline and your willpower but you're proving to yourself that you can start the day by doing something hard. And this is both hard physically, mentally because of the resistance and then everything else you need to do during the day that might be difficult becomes easier because your body and your mind have both already gone through this initial resistance and succeeded. So you're essentially starting the day with success workout, meditation and boom, cold shower. And then you feel great. You feel so alive. You feel you've already done loads off your to do list and it really gives you that sense of achievement and that sense of awakeness again and alertness so early on. Now, for those of you who might still be skeptical first of all, you don't know until you try. And also I understand because it might be something you're not used to or you're not comfortable with. And this is another reason why it's so powerful because when we do things that are out of our comfort zone this helps us to grow. And many of us, probably the vast majority of us right now are too comfortable. Especially yes, in terms of our physical body. We're not hiking through jungles every day, finding food, being in cold and frozen lakes, having to run because you're followed by a bear. I mean, I think biologically speaking we're meant to go through a lot more physical stress and a lot less mental stress and nowadays it's reversed. Our mind is always going through a lot of stress and dealing with so many different complicated topics. But stress is actually meant to be used physically. The reason we have stress as a function is to help us run away if we're being chastened or endure hardships in nature. But it's not meant for us to be dealing with all these work issues and all these mental problems that we go through. So by reversing this, by exercising more frequently, by doing things physically that are harder, such as cold showers, this means that your body is then using stress physically. And then this helps you to alleviate stress and be less stressed mentally. Again, this has been proven, this is scientifically proven that if you put your body under physical stress, I. E. Exercise or strong changes in temperature, high heat or high cold, then we cope better mentally with stress. And this is maybe with the alertness and the willpower so many benefits. This is maybe the main reason I do this. Because I feel that the more stress I put my body through or the more I exercise and take cold showers, the better I feel and therefore the more I'm able to focus, but also to deal with any sort of pressure or hardships that will come. If you're a business owner, you know what I'm talking about. So you need this. We all need this. It is really absolutely magical. Obviously, if you're feeling a bit ill or if you have any sort of cardio problems, then you should evolve cold showers. But for the vast majority of us, most of the time we can benefit from it. Few last notes on cold showers because people seem to think it's this really difficult task. You start by first doing your legs and arms. You don't just go like this and whole body and put yourself in shock. You start with your legs and arms a few times back and forth. Then you do your main body and your face. And you can also, if you feel that this is really difficult for use, first do sort of medium temperature and then as the days go by, do colder. The idea again isn't just to push yourself and force, but to breathe through it. This is another benefit of cold showers because there are so many is of course you have to breathe a lot more deeply. So I think it oxygenates the body a lot better, which is probably why you feel so alert and focused afterwards. Like I've told you, this is a topic I am so passionate about. Again, I will link Wim HOF in the show notes because he is really the world expert in term of cold exposure and there are so many people who do his training and see miraculous results. So it's not just me out there talking about cold showers. I hope this has been useful for you. I hope that it has inspired you to at least try this a bit. Even if it's just medium temperature. Get outside your comfort zone, be alert and awake and enjoy the wonderful benefits and surprising benefits of cold showers. Thank you for being with me today. Please subscribe to my channel. Leave a review, leave a Comment maybe you have other ideas and other sources on this topic, then please share below. And if you feel this would be useful to a friend of yours or family member, then please feel free to share it with them. Thank you so much for being here today.
[10:08] Thank you so much for tuning in today to the Focus Bee show. I would absolutely love to hear your feedback, so let me know in an Apple review or YouTube comment what was most valuable for you, and feel free to share this th with a friend or a family member wishing you a.
[10:29] Wonderful, magical and focused day ahead.