To want to shout this tip for anxiety/mental health from the rooftops?

You can build up a tolerance to cold water quite quickly. I have a warm shower but will then turn the heat down to stimulate my lymphatics and wake me up. I've been a cold pool twice in two days and feel awesome, but I put that down to lymphatic stimulation. Maybe it's vagus nerve too, don't know. If anyone is thinking of trying it just start with a rinse of cooler water. You can turn it down next time or when you acclimatise. I used to take five minutes to get into the lake.

Oh gosh, be careful, people. Cold shock response is a genuine and unpredictable thing. My fit and well friend went wild swimming thinking it would be good for her and ended up having a hypertensive emergency and being airlifted to hospital. Start with the frozen peas and work your way up if you must.

This is really interesting thank you. I'll give anything a go

Cold water swims work great too.

Who's "arrogant and patronising" now?

Thank you for sharing OP I’m going to try this!

I turn the shower to cold in the mornings and it really helps me. This episode of Huberman is really good at explaining the benefits.

This sounds terrifying to me. I absolutely hate being cold, and I’m not a huge fan of being wet either 😂 I wear a winter weight wet suit in summer to get in the sea. Might try cold water on my face though and see how that goes

Michael Mosely did one of his radio things about it:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v83f

I discovered cold water via swimming in the sea all year around starting in an October in 2019.
Sometimes we only go in for a few minutes but a group of us got addicted to it; the meet up, the emptiness of a winter beach and the icy cold water (we don't wear wetsuits, just cozzie, gloves, boots and hats).
However, I cannot do a cold shower ever!

I need to try this today. So stressed and anxious.

I missed where the OP said that cold water showers were a cure for schizoaffective disorder....

A couple of times recently, we've had no hot water. I braved a cold shower as a 'needs must' thing. Felt amazing afterwards.

I already do physiological sighing for 10 minutes in the morning and the 4-7-8 technique before bed. I really do feel the benefit.

In fairness, antidepressants have been a life saver for many, many people.
And meant they can live a more relaxed and manageable life than they would otherwise.

Don't you think that if it were really that simple, GPs would be pushing cold showers before anti-depressants?

No.

To be fair any old placebo helps chronic fatigue & mild anxiety they are part & parcel of normal life rather than a genuine illness.

I'll keep the meds for my genuine mental illness (schizo affective) thanks

There's enough evidence that antidepressants are effective for them to be prescribed to patients, not true for cold water.

One of these two things is profitable, so...

@Serencwtch

she's only sharing that she's found something that helps her & suggesting others TRY it.

no need to be such a negative Nelly, you could have just said that you have tried but cold water triggers you, but xyz helps you. shared instead of being so negative.

after a traumstic Event, I started getting (mild, though didn't feel mild to me) panic attacks, and I find standing outside helps ME. So, if someone struggles I suggest they try it too.

The late Michsel Mosley was a great advocate and I might try this tip too.

To calm anxiety you want to activate the parasympathetic nervous system so called rest and digest state rather than sympathetic which is fight or flight. The vagus nerve is very long but in part runs down the side of the neck , there are lots of techniques to help stimulate the vagus nerve cold water is one way of doing it. The breathing techniques can also be very effective 4-7-8 is breathing in for 4 seconds holding for 7 and then breathing out for 8 seconds , physiological sighing is a two step inhale followed by a more forceful exhale, there are loads of videos on YouTube explaining this I like the ‘Take a deep breath’ channel

Thanks @Pistachiochiochio I'll give that a go. 😨😆

Great that you found it helpful, but it is important not to overstate these things. Different things help different people, and it doesn't do anyone any favours to overplay this as some kind of magic bullet. In fact it is pretty infuriating, on a par with "this one simple trick that doctors don't want you to know about". And pretty insulting too.
Don't you think that if it were really that simple, GPs would be pushing cold showers before anti-depressants?

I swim in the sea and find the very cold water really is therapeutic- at the moment there’s a swarm of jellyfish which has put me off so tomorrow morning I’m starting the day with a cold shower! Thanks, OP 👍

I was told this on mumsnet to try help when I woke up with massive anxiety in the middle of the night. Sadly it didn’t help me.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9953392/

This paper talks about some of the physiological changes in the brainfrom cold water immersion. Also vagus nerve stimulation by cold water around the back of the neck can reduce anxiety but there are a number of other ways to stimulate the vagus nerve and implanted vagus nerve stimulators are FDA approved for treating depression