Paul Chek is a world-renowned holistic health coach and in the brief video below he shares his passion for simple tactics for addressing common concerns. There’s a lot of insight packed into this clip but I’m going to look at a particular focus on cold therapy, in it’s most accessible form, a cold shower.
This week I wanted to talk about cold showers! That’s right COLD! A lot of us walk around with inflammation, chasing pills, powders and potions to combat the harmful effects. In future posts I’ll be digging into natural foods that combat inflammation safely but an even easier way is simply taking a cold shower in the morning or after a workout and as Paul says in the video, the best part, it’s FREE! I’ve read a lot about the benefits of taking a cold shower and realized that the fact that I was resisting trying them was probably a good indication that it was exactly what my body needed. Some benefits of cold showers include increased alertness, stress reduction, stimulating fat loss, increased circulation and immunity. For more on cold therapy and the benefits have a listen to Dr. Rhonda Patrick on the Tim Ferriss podcast (https://tim.blog/tag/cold-therapy/) or Tony Robbins, another big proponent of cold water (https://www.tonyrobbins.com/health-vitality/the-power-of-cold-water/)
I won’t lie to you, it took awhile to get used to taking them. The first few times I started hot and then slowly turned the temperature down and maybe stood in the water for 15 seconds (Ian Fleming referred to this as a “Scottish Shower” in his James Bond novels). My Scottish ancestory must need some reinforcement because this short blast felt like a lifetime. Gradually, the screams and gasps have reduced and I’ve actually started enjoying them and shocking myself with the coldest water and for a longer period of time.
Further inspired by Tony Robbin’s morning routine and his cold plunge pools or rivers in his different homes I’ve recently taken the opportunity to plunge into cold pacific ocean (yes, it’s October). We’ve reviewed the benefits above and Tony speaks of it “priming” his day, however I’ve also realized it clears up any fog from the previous night’s extra glass of red wine quite well!
Fonseca Holistic Health 