Is cold good for your health?
In the middle of the 19th century, a German abbot by the name of Sebastian Kneipp had the idea of taking cold baths to treat his tuberculosis. His regular dips in the Danube cured his illness. On the strength of these results, he began to spread the Kneipp method based on cold water cures.
Cold water forces the body to expend more energy to maintain its internal temperature. The immune system is strengthened and stimulated, which leads to a more efficient immunity. But not only that…
The benefits of cold
…according to wimhofmethod.com
– Trains your nervous system to become more adaptable
– Increases your energy
– Develops your powers of concentration
– Helps easily enter a meditative state
– Strengthens your mind and better manage fears that may be holding you back in your life
– Increases your physical and sporting performance
– Optimises your hormonal and immune function
– Strengthens your cardiovascular system
– Helps to better manage your pain
– Has natural anti-inflammatory properties
…according to epycure.com
Cold stimulates your metabolism
It helps burn fat by activating your “brown fats”. These fats are designed to generate heat and help regulate body temperature by burning our “white fats”, the ones stored in the belly or thighs that everyone wants to get rid of. (Babies are born with lots of brown fat behind their shoulder blades. Newborns cannot shiver, which is one of the ways the body creates heat. Brown fat acts as a built-in heater. As we age, we lose much of it and shiver in response to cold temperatures.)
Cold improves the quality of your sleep
The ideal temperature for restful sleep is between 15 and 19 degrees. If it is higher, the body has to make an extra effort to regulate its temperature, which can affect the quality of sleep and rest.
Cold helps our body to detoxify
It helps to stimulate the circulation of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a network of vessels that runs throughout the body, removing waste, bacteria and microbes from our body. It relies on muscle contraction to circulate and carry toxins to the organs of elimination. So if you don’t exercise or if your lymphatic system itself becomes slow or inefficient, fluid stagnates, toxins accumulate, and you are more prone to colds, joint pain, infections, etc. Exposure to cold causes the lymphatic vessels to contract, thus improving the evacuation of waste products.
Cold improves mood disorders
Exposure to cold increases levels of norepinephrine and endorphins, improving alertness and attention. Cold showers are therefore an effective treatment for headaches and depressive symptoms, and although depression is multifactorial, one neurobiological hypothesis is the dysregulation of several of these hormones.
…according to Passeport-santé.fr
Cold improves your blood circulation
In some countries, it is common practice to finish a shower with a jet of cold water over the whole body. And for good reason, as cold produces miraculous effects on health. Cold water directly on the skin causes vasodilation. In other words, it allows the blood vessels to widen, thus allowing the blood to circulate better. In addition to better oxygenation of the organs, this phenomenon also helps to limit the appearance of varicose veins.
Cold brings you closer to the people you love (my favourite one!)
According to a publication in the journal Plus One in 2012, cold causes us to want to isolate ourselves and keep warm. But the second effect of this natural reflex would be to push us to contact our loved ones. We spend more time on the phone in the middle of winter or when the weather conditions are not ideal, than in the middle of summer when the heat pushes us out of the house.
How do you get your body used to cold?
There are several ways to get your body used to the cold:
Cold showers
Gradual exposure to cold, through cold showers, allows the training of the vascular system and the production of happiness molecules in the brain (yes, yes, it’s true!).
This should be done gradually: after the hot shower, the water temperature is lowered for 30 seconds, and the exposure time and temperature are increased day by day. The final objective is to be able to stay under cold water for 2 minutes.
Even more beneficial is cold water bathing in lakes, rivers or the sea.
Sleeping at 17-18 degrees
At night you cover yourself well but keep the room temperature below 18 degrees. This allows the body to get used to lower temperatures and improves sleep.
Keeping the house at about 19ºC, in the same scope to accustom the body to lower temperatures, but also out of concern for the environment.
Do sports outdoors in winter, not just indoors
Try the Wim Hof method, which improves cold resistance and energy levels through breathing and mind-body awareness techniques (https://www.wimhofmethod.com).
If you live in Porto (Portugal), you can join the Cold Water Mermaids club to bathe all year round in a group, or contact me for the events the club organises (Wim Hof ice bath workshops with Nicolas Latka, trained in the method in Holland and Poland).
Wim Hof Workshop with Nicolas Latka, Spring 2022
If you want to strengthen your immune system, your mental strength and learn to better manage your pain, the cold experience is for you. It will allow you to regain control of your system.
Exposure to cold falls within the framework of the law of hormesis, according to which a short intense stress imposed on the body followed by a rest phase strengthens the organism. In short, the daily thrill of a cold bath will wake you up better than a cup of coffee, relax you more than a glass of wine, strengthen your immunity, boost your morale, and increase your focus.
THE LITTLE STORY OF COLD WATER MERMAIDS PORTO
I have always dreaded dreaded and shunned the cold. It brought back memories of skiing trips as a child, when my feet were so cold in my 70s leather boots, that Mom’s hands were not enough to warm them. In the summer we went on holiday to the ocean, and I had to force myself into the waves when the temperature was below 20 degrees.
About fifteen years ago I came across an article about “Yoga du froid” (cold yoga) and the idea of going for walks in tank top and shorts in the snowy mountains appealed to me. At the time I was living in the heart of Manhattan, I had small children, I was overloaded professionally. In short, not the ideal conditions to take the plunge. Anyway, that was my excuse to run away from the thing that would become my friend much later.
I think the idea was silently growing inside me. When my father died, at 95, I thought about the lifestyle that kept him in such good shape until his last days. The Mediterranean diet, skiing, hiking, but also swimming every day all year round, first in Biarritz with the Club des Ours Blancs, then in Nice with his companions at the Vieux Port.
A few years later, the videos of Wim Hof (nicknamed The Ice Man) started to go viral. I also looked enviously at the photos of English friends, gathered in the icy ocean to celebrate the New Year. I reconnected to memories of a couple of swims I took in icy mountain waters in summer and their invigorating and euphoric effect. So in the New Year in 2020 I went for it, and again the following year. I was lucky, those two years were mild with a beautiful sun on the beach on January 1st. Oh, and I was to forget…I got sooo inspired by an article in The Ageist, featuring Patricia Garcia-Gomez.
In spring 2021 my Lithuanian friend Ausra asked me if we could swim together regularly, and so did we. We invited Alejandra, then Sophie, Isabelle, Eva, joined us as well as Joana who suggested the creation of a group on WhatsApp. A year and a half later, the Cold Water Mermaids&Mermen group in Porto counts 83 members (men and women), about a third of whom regularly join our weekly Friday morning swim. Some of them knew us through Instagram (@cold_water_mermaids), others through word of mouth, and there are also the single bathers who saw us in the water or whom we saw and invited to join the group.
The Friday swim has become a much anticipated ritual for me throughout the week. I don’t hide the fact that sometimes I dread having to undress at 8.30am in the winter for a dip (the coldest last year was 6 degrees air and 12 degrees water). But my body craves the sensation of moving my lymph, blood and energy, and it craves the deep physical and mental well-being that comes with it. There is also the social side and the warm welcome we give to each others. The mermaids group attracts caring and endearing personalities so we support each other emotionally, from the heart.
But enough with the “I’s”, let’s hear from the members of our fabulous group:
“To me, it always feels like morning blessing, baptism and supportive community. The welcoming smiles and hugs always so open too. A human global warming! 🧜♀️🧜♂️” Paula
🐳
“Only one year ago I would never have thought that i would be able to dive into the cold waters of the Atlantic. The mere thought of it was highly unpleasant and i was deeply convinced that those who did it were a little crazy… Now i can’t live without it! My energy levels skyrocket after the swim and i feel reborn every time. incorporatinng this routine has been a lifechanger!” Daniel
🐬
“When my friend Florence Rolando invited me to join her and a small group of women for a sea diving a cold morning of May at 8:15am, my first reaction was: I won’t be able… But I was very curious and I thought “I would go and just see”.
Once I was there, the group spirit of these few strong women gave me the courage I needed to make my first plunge, and it was love at first sight. Since then, every Friday morning I wake up in excitement, waiting to meet my gang and the cold sea. My body, my mind and my soul ask for our weekly cold dive with the Cold Water Mermaids group. Since the beginning I feel stronger, happier and healthier.” Alejandra
🐟
“The first time I went into the cold water was in winter 2022. Unbelievable! Until that moment I was the one who didn’t swim in the Algarve’s warmer waters in summer. I encourage myself to take this opportunity sent from heaven, and set the intention of healing and keeping my energy at a very good vibration. This gets easier thanks to the energy of the amazing group. The sensation of overcoming my own limits, each time I go into the cold water, helps me a lot to have a higher perspective of myself, of experiences and of life in general. Florence is like an expected lovely and caring 🧚 destined to touch people lives turning them healthier. Her natural elegance, her gentle sensibility and her deep wisdom makes her a very rare human being with a huge purpose: heal to the core through a back-to-basics life. Truly grateful Florence 🙏”. Rocio
🐠
“Porto is a charming city where life is smooth. Such a pity that the ocean is so cold there, I’ve been though deploring for 15 years ! I had well made one or two half-attempts of swimming, by extremely good weather conditions, but they had all confirmed my fears, ending with a terrible cold lasting at least a week. Yet Florence was telling me that being cold-natured was not an inexorable fatality, that cold baths even had benefits, and that she was setting up an appointment every Friday at dawn to take a dive into the ocean. I decided to trust her and to face this kind of weird challenge, and thus went back into the water, along with a few fearless friends, and with the firm resolution not to get sick : “You can do it, You can do it !” 💪 And I did it ! As hard as I looked for any sign of cold, bronchitis, sore throat, on the following days : not the slightest shiver. I repeated the experience on the following Fridays, just to make sure, still nothing. I may recognise that as the summer was heading the merit was decreasing. Especially as the group of mermaids and mermen kept growing, turning this weekly challenge into a joyful and friendly meeting that I wouldn’t miss for anything. But summer went away and yet we went on with what had gotten back to being a challenge, week after week, month after month, all year long, by any weather, carried by the positive energy of the group.
The proudness of overcoming my apprehension of the cold every Friday, the wellness sensation I feel in the water during the 15-20 minutes of swimming, the feeling of strength, almost invincibility, of joy too, that overwhelm me when I get out of the water, are longlasting over the day. As time goes by, I feel stronger, definitely less cold-natured and better armed to fight diseases. Thank you so much to Florence for initiating this movement and launching this group, and thank you so much to my mermaids and mermen friends to be there every Friday to make this bath in cold water such a heart-warming experience”. Sophie
🐋
“I am so happy that I embraced this challenge of Florence. Alone, I would never have done it. At the beginning we were a couple of mermaids that went weekly for a plunge on the cold water at the beach. This is something I am doing already on a weekly basis for more than 1 year.
The day we go into the cold water gives me a lot of energy and good mood. We are a wonderful group with the same purpose and very enthusiastic. Normally we stay in the water 15-20 min breathing deeply and it is a magical moment.
I feel more strong, enthusiastic and refreshed to face the new day.” Joana.
How to join the Cold Water Mermaids
If you live in Porto or Matoshinhos join us! INSTAGRAM @cold_water_mermaids. – What’sApp Group Contact Florence on +351 929 148 001
We will also encourage you to create your own cold water club in your area. We can then meet occasionally or simply exchange information as we do with other clubs around the world.
Some tips for swimming in cold water:
– Dress well to allow the body to warm up with exposure to the cold. A hat is very useful in winter.
– Wear neoprene booties to keep your feet warm and to protect your toes when there are rocks!
– The ocean presents some dangers. Don’t swim alone when there are waves and currents, don’t go far from the shore.
– Cold is always applied to a warm body, so if you feel cold, you will stress your body too much if you immerse yourself in cold water.
– Cold strengthening requires energy and is not recommended for people who are too tired. It is best to take care of yourself with other techniques before starting cold therapy.
Link to The Ageist article, featuring Patricia Garcia-Gomez.
