Five reasons why you should try a Wim Hof Method ice bath
Surely no one needs five reasons to jump in an ice cold lake in the middle of the Swedish winter, in just their bathing suit? But if you're not convinced yet, here are five reasons why you really should give it a try for your health. I can't promise you won't get hooked!
Lose weight
Improve your brain function
Strengthen your immune system
Support your mental health
Increase your sex drive
So let's break that down for those of you who love the science...
1. Lose weight
Regular cold exposure increases the amount of brown fat in the body - this is the good fat, not to be confused with that pesky white fat that can sits around your tummy and hips. Brown fat is what helps to keep you lean and healthy. It's highly metabolically active, meaning it burns up calories including those stored in the white fat.
2. Improve your brain function
Ice bathing supports brain health in a number of ways but two key science-backed was are through the production of cold-shock proteins, and strengthening the blood-brain-barrier. Cold shock proteins play a role in the health of our brain synapses - these are the connections between our neurons helping us to process information and pass messages quickly and efficiently. The blood-brain-barrier is what protects our brain from toxins that are circulating around in the rest of our body. The cold helps to keep it healthy and strong so your brain doesn't get attacked.
3. Strengthen your immune system
You may think this is justy a stretch of the imagination too far but no, cold exposure can strenthen your immune system. It increases the amount of white blood cells your body produces, which means you're more prepared for an attacking microbe! It also increases the production of antioxidants - these are the clean up squad that remove waste from our body before it can do any harm to us.
4. Support your mental health
Ice bathing can increase the amount of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, that helps to increase our feelings of happiness. It also is a great tool for stress. When we are stress in modern life it's often relentless - there's no hard fast escape from a sabretooth tiger and then a lovely long recovery rest, no - it's full on finance, work, family, relationship stress and our brains really struggle to switch off! Well, try taking an ice bath... this adds a physical stress to the body, but there's no chance of thinking about anything else so all those other stresses disappear. Time to get out and there you go, the stress cycle is broken and you are stress-free for a lovely rest.
5. Increase your sex drive
We saved this one for last because we knew you'd keep reading! Here at Be.Human.Natural we know the mental boost that ice bathing can give you, and when you feel superhuman, well, that's a great confidence boost! From a scientific perspective, ice bathing also improves cardiovascular blood flow - where there's more blood flowing, there's more pleasure. Plus what better way to warm up afterwards than with skin on skin*?
*Service not provided as part of your booking!
So we hope that if you were still reluctant to try, we've given you the motivation you need to take the plunge in an ice bath!
Why not book now? We still have a few spaces remaining for our upcoming Summer Solstice Fundamentals Retreat - learn all the techniques and give it a try during the summertime so you're all set and confident for when winter arrives...
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Wim Hof Method website: www.wimhofmethod.com/instructors/alexanderpohl