Am I the only one not submerging myself in ice water every day?

[Mandalakia]

I follow a lot of health, fitness and wellbeing accounts on Instagram and everyone seems to be caught up in this trend. Basically, you fill a bath with ice water, plunge yourself in for 5 minutes, then jump out looking energised and renewed. Some people are even lowering themselves into frozen lakes. You also need to film yourself doing this and tag Wim Hof every single time.

I actually started browsing for a foldable ice bath on Amazon before coming to my senses and remembering it takes me half hour to get in a heated pool let alone a bucket of ice.

@LunaHeather because the bath is outside so it gets cold/icy. Inside in a normal bathtub you’d need to empty it daily wouldn’t you to have a normal bath/shower. Unless you have a spare bath you can leave full of cold water all the time.

I think you're supposed to start by having a vaguely cold shower

You fucking weirdo..

oooouff....no thankyou, even the thought of a cold compress makes me cry I cannot bear to be cold. It worries me.

Even if dh goes to put his cold hands on me out of mischief I go a bit weird....he doesn't do it, but the thought is too much.

[quote AIMD]@LunaHeather because the bath is outside so it gets cold/icy. Inside in a normal bathtub you’d need to empty it daily wouldn’t you to have a normal bath/shower. Unless you have a spare bath you can leave full of cold water all the time.[/quote]
Blimey. People are taking this way more seriously than I knew. I just thought people doing the Wim Hof thing were having cold baths indoors. I had an ex who did this after training and he had a store of gel pack things in the freezer and he'd put them in a cold bath in the flat.

So you sit in cold water that never gets changed?

Start with a cold shower and see! Its actually great for mental health.

@user1732578431456

I think when you get to the point of browsing Amazon for foldable ice baths it is time to come off social media.

Words to live by.

It's amazing, you feel so enlivened after, it clears your mind, and it helps with inflammation.

I try and have a cold shower every day and it does make me feel very good!!

@Toorapid

So you sit in cold water that never gets changed?

I refresh it because it obviously get yuky (not a technical term), but I don’t need to run a whole new bath every day like I would need to if I used the tub inside (our shower is over our bath). Some people keep same water and put like salts or chemical in it like in pools.

I guess it’s no different to the cold pools you dunk it at the spa. Well obviously my back garden is not like I spa but I mean in the sense that cold water is used at spas, sport therapy, after saunas etc.

boredwiththeoldname

Am I the only one who thinks this whole idea is bonkers?
No! I think it's absolutely crazy too! Especially in this weather.

Am I the only one who thinks this whole idea is bonkers?

No. Before I finished reading the OP I was thinking, what madness is this?

Do people think it will make them lose weight or something? Knock off the bloody twixes instead.

I find my weekly flight to Norway really helps me clear my sinuses. The cold is good for you #shakra

I love the idea. I even tried a cold shower once and then remembered that I hate cold water. Actually I hate cold/warm swimming pools unless it's 36 degrees outside.

Just seen someone on FB have an ice bath in a wheely bin filled with water/ice. I'd have turned it off if I wasn't curious to know how she'd actually manage to get out again. Bonkers.

I have fibromyalgia and Raynauds and am very sensitive to the cold, I can be in Spain when it’s about 35 degrees and I may put an ankle in the water. The thought of putting my body willingly in cold icy water, well hell would freeze over first, just why? (Walks away shaking head)

I find my weekly flight to Norway really helps me clear my sinuses. The cold is good for you #shakra

I just looked up Shakra and discovered that they are ‘a Swiss hard rock band formed in the late 1990s’

Surely that is not what you meant?

Anyway you can save a mint on air fares AND get a discount on Findus crispy pancakes along with clear sinuses if you get a job in a cold storage warehouse.

I thought this was going to be about wild/open water swimming which seems to be the latest trend amongst my friends. As someone who thinks twice about getting in the Med in August I am totally bemused by all these people throwing themselves into the Irish Sea or Wastwater in January. Same principle as the ice baths though - it's allegedly health promoting. My friends tell me that it reduces the risk of all kinds of things including dementia. Given that I have a very strong family history of Alzheimer's disease I'd really like to reduce my risk but I'm unconvinced that this is the way. The only way I can see it saving me from dementia is by preventing me from ever reaching old age by causing me to die from hypothermia first. I don't mind walking or cycling in the cold but I will never willingly immerse myself in freezing water.

It's -7 tonight- that ice bath will be one solid plug of ice in the morning!

No, I don’t do this either. My limit is visit to the kitchen for 3 minutes with one cotton layer on after heating was switched off for 2 hours.

No. The idea of this makes me angry.

I keep thinking maybe I should try the cold shower thing and then I remember I'm not a masochist

It's lockdown boredom, isn't it? I believe it's supposed to be good for you though.

I went for a walk in the snow today. Does that count?

You have to be very careful to acclimatise yourself to cold water gradually or your body can go into shock.

Weirdly I've discovered Jonna Jinton today and she seems to be a fan - I have a few cold water sea/wild swimming friends too.

I like the idea in theory, as I love wild swimming in the summer, but I also like being warm and cosy, so the coldest I'll be doing is cold water shampooing to keep the colour in my hair longer 😂

It's a thing in some countries. I have a Finnish aunt and it's completely normal for her to go swimming in the local lake, everyone does. When the lake freezes over they cut a channel out of the ice and pop a set of pool steps on one end. You have to wear gloves because the steps are metal and the skin on your hands would freeze to them if they weren't covered.

A couple of years ago someone convinced me that it was very refreshing to turn the shower to cold for 60 seconds at the end. I tried it and my blood pressure dropped massively and I had to hang on to the edge of the bath until the grey mist cleared. I haven't done it since.