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

[BornToBeStyled]

Cold showers. Within a lifetime of problematic anxiety, I can't believe it's taken me this long (to my mid 40s) to discover them. Actual game changer.

If you have trouble with anxiety and panic, and haven't already tried cold showers, try them. A cold shower can bring me back from crisis point to feeling quite fine in about 2 minutes, sometimes. The effects can last for hours. And when they wear off... you can have another.

AIBU to think GPs should give this as an intervention before drugs?!

How long do you need to have the cold running over you? Would 30 seconds help? I’m such a wimp in cold water 😖!

eta thanks for the tip!

This. It resets the body. Can also be done by dunking head in bowl of water or using an ice pack on your face.

really depends, “are effective”. No evidence certainly for prescribing ad infinitum to pretty much anyone.

I have AuDHD and a long history of Depression and GAD. I was suicidal and put on medication twice...spent 1000s on therapy and also received NHS therapy.

No real impact.

In Lockdown, unmedicated and nearly suicidal again, I took one cold shower with breathing exercises after hearing Wim Hoff podcast episode and I am not exaggerating when I say the impact blew my mind. It massively positively changed my mental state.

It did more for me than any tablet and I am evangelical about it now. No one wants to hear me talk about it though!

Please could you explain this more?

Thank you for sharing this.

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

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.

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 👍

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?

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

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

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

@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.

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...

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

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

No.

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.

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.

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

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

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!

Michael Mosely did one of his radio things about it:

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

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

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.