Far 2 Fabulous

Chilled to Thrive: The Unexpected Joys and Health Perks of Cold Water Therapy

March 21, 2024 • Julie Clark & Catherine Chapman • Episode 10

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When the ice pod first became an unlikely sanctuary in my daily routine, I could hardly believe the tranquility it brought to my life. This episode is a deep freeze into my personal narrative with cold water therapy, where initial skepticism turned into a heartfelt endorsement of this bracing practice. From the serene moments it carves out of hectic days to the spirited camaraderie of our swim group, the Bubble Tits, I unpack how the combination of cold water, nature's embrace, and human connection has forged an unforeseen path to well-being.

This isn't just my story; it's a wave of revelations about the astonishing benefits of cold water immersion. Feel the chill of discovery as we examine how it can deflate inflammation, soothe weary muscles, and even kickstart your metabolism into a higher gear. And it doesn't stop there – we immerse ourselves in the science behind the blissful shock to your system, the activation of brown fat for weight control, and the invigorating effects on the vagus nerve for stress resilience. Whether you’re a seasoned cold water enthusiast or a newcomer with a shiver of curiosity, this episode is a refreshing plunge into the surprising health perks that await beneath the surface.

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For more information about Catherine Chapman, click HERE

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Catherine:

Welcome t o Far 2 Fabulous, hosted by Julie and Catherine. Join us on a mission to embrace your fabulousness and redefine wellness. Get ready for some feistyness, inspiration, candy chaps and humour as we journey together towards empowered wellbeing. Let's dive in. Hello everybody, and today, in a little bit of a twist, you have got me just me all by myself. I'm trying to resist singing right now.

Catherine:

We thought that it would be fun to mix it up a little bit every now and again and, as well as have guests that we would do some solo podcasts. So today I am going to be talking to you about cold water therapy. This is something that and it's there's very, very few things, but this is something that Julie and I don't share a passion for. I very, very much do, and I haven't managed to get it to rub off on her yet, but there is still plenty of time. I genuinely don't understand why I haven't got her in the cold water yet. She does cold showers, though, so that's I mean, that's pretty badass really. I find cold showers really, really difficult. Anyway, it's been a day today. It really has been, and mainly because I tipped tea all over my laptop and at one point I thought I was going to be able to record this podcast and thankfully I have a very tech savvy husband who has partially saved it so that I can record this. But I want to tell you that the calmest, loveliest moment of my day today so far has been whilst I have been in my ice pod that I have out in the garden, and that is genuinely why I love cold water therapy so so much. It is so powerful. The reason that we are inserting this solo podcast about cold water therapy here is because it is such a fantastic stress reliever and my experience today is just one example of many.

Catherine:

So the first time I ever heard about cold water therapy was on Dr Chatterjee's I think it was called Doctor in the House, something like that. It was a TV series that he was doing and basically he was trying to not just give medication for every single problem that his patients came into his room for, and there was a lady that, if I can remember it correctly, because it was a long time ago she was virtually housebound because she was so anxious and depressed and wasn't able to function with any kind of normality. So one of the therapies that he gave her was cold water therapy and they started off really slowly and she just went in for like seconds really and then gradually, gradually, she got to the point that she was swimming and she was then doing of her own accord and you could see the power of it. And this was long before, really, I'd heard of Wim Hoff and that it had really exploded into the public realm. So that was always in the back of my head. And then many, many years later, two of my friends went off cold water swimming in the sea. So obviously I'm very lucky to have that incredible natural resource on my doorstep.

Catherine:

And that day and they said, oh, do you want to come? And I was really nervous and I wanted to go. I really, really wanted to go and I kind of felt like I needed to warm up, if you'll pardon the bum into this. So actually I said no, I chickened out, and then I had full on FOMO and they said they were going to do it the next day. So I was like, right, I'm going to do this and I actually I put my wetsuit on, trudged down to the beach with one of them and we went into the sea. I think we were, we squealed into the sea for about I don't know two minutes, if that and this was probably about October time and came running out and I think I wrapped myself up in my towel, kept my wetsuit on and drove straight home and I was hooked. It was far from a perfect moment, and I was hooked. It was such an incredible buzz and I'd always wanted to do it. It was cold it was nowhere near as cold as it was gonna get, but it was fantastic.

Catherine:

A few weeks later we'd managed to convince a few other people we'd been talking about it. A few other people have been like I've always wanted to do that as well and so we met in Tankerton and a few of us went in together and we stayed in for a bit longer I think I still have my wetsuit on. At that point I think some people had gone in in swimming costumes and it was, and it was mating Again. And whilst we were in there, one of the ladies said you should start a Bluetooth group in Whitstable and I looked at her quizzically what is this? And she told me about this swim group that she had come across, I think, down in Cornwall. I think she'd probably come across one of the original ones and so she'd heard about these groups of people, often women, getting together and going swimming together. And so Imogen, who was one of the original people I went swimming with, and Carolina myself, got in touch with them and asked if we could start a Whitstable branch. And that was absolutely fab, and they set the Facebook group up for us, and so then we ran it, and this was during the time of lockdown, when we were only permitted perhaps to meet at six people or at a distance, and so we used to spread ourselves all over the beach and all sorts of things, and the group just grew and grew and grew and the buzz grew and it was just absolutely incredible. So not only were we getting all these amazing benefits from the water, from the cold water therapy, from nature, we were also still being able, in those awful situations, still being able to have community and still being able to meet new people. And it was just, it was absolutely incredible and it was such a lifeline for so many people.

Catherine:

And now the group that we affectionately call the Bubble Tits, because Whitstable is Whitstable to its locals and so we cut and pasted a few words and came up with Bubble Tits. We've now almost got 2,000 members and it's such an incredible community. Still there's almost not a day goes by that there won't be a swim going on. You can go and join literally anybody along the whole of the beach, right from towards where I live in Seasorta, all the way along through Whitstable, through Tankton, all the way through to Swellcliffe. It's just incredible. And then you get to go and join in with everybody else. So if you go away on holiday, we always look up is there a blue tits group? Is there somewhere we can go cold water swimming and go and join their community. It's absolutely incredible. So that is how I came across it.

Catherine:

So I'm gonna give you a few facts and figures about why it is so powerful. So the cold water immersion is a mood boosting. It releases all these fantastic endorphins, all your body's natural feel good hormones, so you just feel absolutely alive. Yes, you're cold, but I promise you it is not the same cold as the people that stand and watch us shivering in their coats. It's not the same at all. It's absolutely incredible and, like I'd said earlier, I was addicted from the word go and you watch this happen time and time again. But somebody's like well, I've really wanted to do it. Or sometimes people just know the benefits and don't really wanna do it, and then when they come back out, they're hooked and they wanna go and do it again Again. I've seen people that have gone in, dunked themselves under, absolutely freak themselves out, come back out again and within minutes they're back in the sea again. It's that powerful.

Catherine:

According to somebody called TJ Power, he's an Instagram friendly neuroscientist and he's also the author of the Dose Effect, which was very interesting he's talking about a drug like cocaine will create a dopamine spike that is two and a half times above the normal level in the body and apparently because I can't personally vouch for this it peaks around nine minutes after consumption and then crashes really, really quickly, and it's this crash that urges the return of going back to the drug, back to the drug. Back to the drug. In contrast, cold water immersion can cause a dopamine spike again, two and a half times the regular levels. So same uplifting power of cocaine. However, it rises much more gradually and it carries on and on, I'm told, for like nine hours. These amazing feelings, isn't that absolutely incredible? And because you don't have that crash, that absolute plummet of the dopamine, it doesn't leave you jangly on wanting more, it just leaves you feeling just high and refreshed. It's incredible.

Catherine:

It's really funny when you're in with a group of people on the beach and we're all I don't know we're griping about our days or what's gone on or whatever's happened through the days, the weeks that have been leading up to it, and then we all go into the sea and there's lots of whooping and cheering and maybe the language gets a little bit fruity, which actually is research proven to help you get into the water. So it's all welcome. And then it all goes quite calm and everybody is just just happy and then everybody gets back out again and it's all much, much calmer and more relaxed. It's absolutely incredible. I just love it. So that's me on the beach enjoying it in all its glory when I can.

Catherine:

Many of you know that I'm part of SOS Whitstable and we demonstrate about the sewage being pumped into our sea locally. It's very, very infuriating that we can't always use this incredible natural resource At the moment. That's a fact and that's life. So I have a ice pod in the garden that is inflated, that is clean and ready for me to go whenever I need it, and at the moment, and hopefully forever, I use this almost on a daily basis. So if I can't get in the sea then I get into my ice pod, and especially at the moment because I am still in training for the Brighton Marathon only for another three weeks you will hear about this for and it is an incredible thing for recovery.

Catherine:

It helps to reduce any inflammation, it helps to alleviate sore muscles and fatigue and just promotes faster healing, and overall the therapy does reduce inflammation. It constricts the blood vessels, it decreases the blood flow to the affected areas and reduces the swelling and any pain. So it has been invaluable for my training and again, after a long run, it might seem like the craziest thing to do is to go and jump into freezing cold water, and again, it's the most peaceful and calm part of the day. Recall, a couple of weeks back, sat in there and it was just getting dark, and there's something very surreal about sat in the pod when it's dark outside and it was blowing again and again I was just sat in the pod, super, super calm, and that's contrast between the calmness of me sat in the pod and the craziness of the wind and the weather, and the darkness outside was just bonkers absolutely beautiful, though.

Catherine:

Other things that it can do for you is boost your circulation, and so actually often what I do, especially after I come back from a run, is jump into the pod. I usually get in for between three and five minutes. The rule of thumb that we use in the sea as if it's below 10 degrees, we don't go over a minute per degree. So, for instance, if it's five degrees, we tend to not stay in any longer than five minutes. The only danger with that is that people use that as a target and you are very, very much got to listen to your own body.

Catherine:

Often you will hear say as well when we're in the water, when you start to get comfortable or when you start to actually get warm, that's when you need to get out, probably quite quickly. There's always the danger once you've stayed in for a while, you get really, really comfortable and then the danger of having that cold water drop and cold water shock and then bordering on hypothermia, starts to start to set in. However, this is the this is the lovely thing about being able to swim with a group of people is that there's always somebody around to offer advice and if you don't feel very well, there's always somebody around to help. It's always a good idea to go swimming with other people. However, anyway, I was talking about and I'm going to keep digressing I don't have Julie here to keep me on track so we were talking about then jumping from my cold water bath out in the garden. I then run upstairs and jump into a hot bath.

Catherine:

The process, which is called contrast water therapy, can really stimulate blood circulation, because it goes from having those vessels really really constricted with the cold temperatures to then really dilated when you jump into that lovely hot water, and this has been shown to improve circulation. It's also been shown to promote cardiovascular health, which is really interesting because I think I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about mum today and this and I don't know if I ever have before in the podcast. She thinks I'm absolutely mental and she just can't get ahead around the fact that I go into the sea, and she is completely convinced that if she did it, her heart would stop. And so there's that there's some evidence that it will not only not stop, but it will help it. So there you go, mum, come and join me in the sea. Because of this lovely flushing of of fresh, really oxygenated blood, it's wonderful to enhance skin health as well. I've also read somewhere and I did go and look for this and I couldn't find it again.

Catherine:

Lots of people suffer with rain ord, so you get a poor circulation towards the ends of your fingers and they go very white and numb and painful, often in the cold weather, and you would think that going swimming cold water, swimming with rain ord, was a really bad idea. But actually, apparently it's a very, very good idea because of this effect, because of the, the warming up and the flush of this oxygenated blood as the vessels dilate is really, really good for the rain ords. Another plus is increased metabolism. The cold temperatures are said to activate brown adipose tissue, a type of fat that burns calories to generate heat. How fantastic is that. So it might help to increase metabolism and facilitate weight loss. So if that is your goal, maybe that is what gets you into the water.

Catherine:

So, like I said earlier on, the reason that I am talking about cold water therapy now is because we have been talking about stress a couple of weeks ago and then we were talking about the vagus nerve last week, and the cold water therapy, particularly when you have got it around your neck and your face and your head, is a real stimulant for the vagus nerve, which is why you feel so calm and so serene. There's also talk of the cold water therapy. That, obviously, is a trigger to the stress response. It's a lot of work for your body as you're in those cold temperatures, but it's said to build up your resilience to the stress over time. I definitely deal with it a lot better. I can get into the cold water a lot easier. I don't know if the words easier, actually, but certainly a lot quicker.

Catherine:

I used to be the person like tiptoeing into the sea or tiptoeing into the swimming pool, like with my, with my arms up, to let as little of me go into the cold water as possible. And for any of you that are at home listening to this going, I couldn't possibly do that. I am always cold. I'm with you. I am always the cold one. I have always got through the winter. I've always got a base layer on. I've always got big socks, slippers, hats, everything, blankets. I've got a radiator under my desk. I am always, always cold.

Catherine:

This has really, really helped me to balance my temperature. So in the winter I'm not as freezing, freezing cold as I always used to be, partly, I think, because actually I get very good at putting layers on, and I think that's from when I warm up on the beach. We get very, very good at putting layers on very quickly and we don't allow ourselves to get cold. So that's partly it, but I really genuinely feel like it helps to balance my temperature. And, on the flip side, what was very interesting was when we were on holiday in Croatia I think it was last year, the year before the kids were melting. They were absolutely melting and I felt really, really comfortable and I genuinely feel that the cold water therapy has helped me to balance that out. So I don't know if there's any research I have to have a look around for that but for me, that's definitely my experience and I was saying about the stress response on the body and building up that resilience Our lives are.

Catherine:

I mean, unless we go and move out into the rainforest or join a commune which I have joked quite frequently, I might do our lives are always going to have elements of stress in them, and so the best way to cope with this is to build up your resilience, and this is just another way of doing it. So the final selling point I'm gonna give it to you as a selling point that I have for you today is that it also helps improve your sleep. So taking a cold shower or cold bath and lowering your body temperature before you are due to go to sleep is associated with better sleep quality, meaning that the individual can fall asleep faster and experience deeper and a more restorative sleep. So that's absolutely incredible. I have to say that I'm not sure how I'd feel about jumping into the pod and then jumping straight into bed. No, actually, I know I'm gonna take that back right now. I think that would be really nice being able to snuggle into bed feeling chilly and then wrapping yourself up lovely and warm and snuggling into bed. Now I take that back. I would really love that. It would be really fantastic, and I haven't talked about it very much.

Catherine:

But the other way that you can so easily incorporate cold water therapy into your pretty much every day is by using the shower. So, as I say, if I can't get in the sea whether the tide's out or somebody's dumped sewage in the sea or it's just not convenient I have my pod outside that I will usually jump in, as I say, about three to five minutes in, depending on the temperature. At the moment it's about 10 degrees and, interestingly, this winter. So we are March 2024 at the time of recording. This winter. I have only had to break ice on the pod twice since I've had it up, so it's been very, very mild. So most of the time it's been between about eight and 10 degrees, so I could probably stay in it a little bit longer. However, it's very, very different just sat in that cold water very, very still than it is swimming in the sea, so I tend to stay in there for about three to five minutes. The therapeutic benefits happen once you have got your deltoids, your tops of your arms, into the water, so that's quite important that you can't sort of sit there with your just up to your waist. If you really want all of those benefits, you need to sink your shoulders into the water. I was also told at one point by a professor down on the South Coast I can't remember which university that you get all of the benefits within the first 30 seconds, and so then I say the rest is just showing off. However, it is still lovely to be able to be in that water for a bit longer and show off and kind of push your boundaries and just extend the amount of time that you can be in there, obviously within the realms of safety and how you feel, always, always looking for how you feel.

Catherine:

I swim now because I talked about when I first started. I swim in just my swimming costume all the year round and, as far as I'm concerned, the colder the better. Last year, when it was was it last year, might be the year before it was in lockdown actually when it snowed and we got to pad across the snow on the beach and then get into the sea where this frosty, slushy stuff was being formed, just as the waves were breaking. It was that cold. It was just incredible. It's absolutely exhilarating.

Catherine:

Yes, so I have five mil neoprene gloves on. I've often got a bobble hat on or something on my head, and I've also got five mil neoprene boots on, and because I'm a baby and I can't walk across the stones, I've also got my beach shoes on over the top. I don't know. I've lived in Whitstable since I was seven years old. We visited it when I was a child. I still have never mastered walking across the stones, so I'll put that on my list of things to master. I don't think that it will ever happen. However, look see I need Julie again. I've completely gone. I've gone around in a circle. They're telling you about all the kit that I've got on the beach.

Catherine:

So if I can't do the beach, if I can't do my pod, if I've got no time at all, then I will use the shower. It's not my favorite, I have to say. I like my seas cold and my showers hot. However, if that's all I can do to get that buzz for the day and I do try and do it daily then I will do it in the shower and so I will have my normal shower and I tend to then leave my conditioner on and I turn it to pretty cold. Like really, it feels very, very cold on your hands and I'm not ashamed to tell you. I do a little dance in the shower and I put my hands in and my elbows in and my feet in and then I'll splash it on my face and maybe I'll splash it onto my shoulders, so I haven't just completely put myself directly underneath and then I will turn around and I will do a little dance and I will shimmy myself under the cold water. It's definitely definitely harder to keep your head under. That said, it's a really good stimulus for the vagus nerve, so you will get really amazing benefits from it. However, don't get that kind of really painful ice cream headache, so don't hold it under there for too long. Once I've got used to it, may it 30 seconds to a minute. Then I will turn the temperature down a little bit more. And again, I am continuing to dance and sing whilst underneath the shower, so the family will know when I'm having a cold shower because it's louder and more screechier.

Catherine:

I often practice my choir songs when I am dancing around in a cold shower and don't ever think that I don't feel the same as you, as I am just about to get into a cold sea, into a cold ice bath, into a cold shower. There is still I think there's very much a safety mechanism in us all. That that's really crazy, and I do it anyway because I know that every single time I feel absolutely incredible. It's like a workout. I have never, ever regretted doing it. I have always felt energized. It's weird because you feel energized and calm and incredible all at the same time. Have I sold it to you? Yet I'm not. I'm not on commission for blue tits or for the sea. However, I truly, truly believe that. So, like I told you earlier on, my mum thinks I'm completely crazy for doing it, and often my reply to her is that she hasn't done it. So I think she's crazy because she's got no idea what she's missing out on.

Catherine:

And so if I can encourage you guys to even just incorporate a little bit of cold water after your lovely warm shower just for a minute, it's supposed to be very good for your hair as well. So often I've left the conditioner in and then I can rinse that out as well, and I use it as a habit stack as well. We talked about habits quite a few episodes back now, but I will use it and have it stacked to my shower. So again, if, if I've got time, I will go and get in the pod just before my shower and then if I don't have time then then I just use. I just use the shower and I turn the cold water on afterwards.

Catherine:

I think that I have told you everything. If anybody has any questions for me, please, please, please, feel free to send me a message on any of my social medias or an email. You can get my email on my website. If you've got any questions, then please give me a shout if you are not local to Whitstable, I am sure that there is a local swim group wherever there is cold water, especially now that it's exploded and it's very, very popular. So if you are curious, go and find a new community, a new tribe of crazy crazy, often women. However, we do have a really amazing group of gents that swim with us as well.

Catherine:

So I hope I've sold it to you. I would love, love, love to hear any of your success stories of cold water therapy. And until next time, bye, bye. Thank you for keeping us company today. If you enjoyed the podcast, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us on our mission to reach a thousand women in our first year. So share with your friends and family. You might just change your life. Connect with us on social media and make your life easier by joining our podcast, and you'll find the links in the show notes. Your weekly episode will be in a straight-up box every Thursday morning. Make it a fabulous week and we'll catch you in the next episode.