Stepping into the Cold

If I could introduce you to a method that would decrease stress, improve your sleep and increase your resilience and all that it required was water, air and a yoga mat (optional), would you be interested?

Attentive readers will be aware that the last few posts have made reference to Wim Hof. And it is to his method that I refer.

My husband had told me about this ultra-athlete some time ago, marvelling at his feats of endurance – swimming under ice, marathons in extreme conditions and climbing a significant part of Everest in his shorts! They were amusing anecdotes and the sort of thing that makes you marvel at human capabilities, but that was all.

A nudge

Then, a few months ago at my OMS virtual meet up, Wim’s name was mentioned again. It seemed that he was someone who was good at teaching resilience and might just be helpful for those with MS. The universe, it seemed, was trying to tell me something.

After the call, I do what I always do when faced with an unknown: research. There is plenty of information out there on the web (though I strongly suggest that you refer only to the official sites) and yes, it seemed that his method could aid those with autoimmune disorders such as my own.

There is no cure for my condition, only ways to mitigate it. Surely, this was worth a try. So I began with the breathing exercise that I found on-line for two weeks to see if I could manage it and if it seemed to do any good. It did. My sleep, which is always interrupted and sketchy at best, improved dramatically. If I woke with a dead limb, or a spastic pain in my legs, I simply acknowledged it, did a bit wiggling and fell back to sleep.

Inspiration

This word is derived from the Latin, inspirare, meaning to breathe, so it works on both counts. By practising a form of controlled breathing, one can literally become inspired. Filling the body and brain with oxygen enables it to function at its very best. It is also likely to increase your spiritual well-being, as the practice is a form of meditation.

I am not going to attempt to describe or explain the method here. It is vital that you follow the instructions carefully and do not jump ahead of your abilities. This is heady stuff! Instead, I shall give you a taster led by Wim.

Yes, he is a bit of a hippy, and yes, some of it may seem a little ‘far out’, but for me, this simply added to the entertainment.

Taking the plunge

Since the breathing had worked well, I decided to go a little further. With Covid-19 swirling about, anything that might increase my lung strength and help my rather weedy immune system was worth investing in.

My husband was still on furlough at the time and is always up for a challenge, so we decided to do the on-line course of ten weeks.

One of the key components of the method is exposure to the cold, and again, this must be done very gradually and carefully (or you risk hypothermia). Thirty seconds of cold shower after a warm one didn’t seem bad at all, but sadly, this was the easy bit. As the course progressed, the time spent in the cold increased from thirty seconds to five minutes with no warm bit at all. Ideally, we should have taken an ice-bath, but since our house doesn’t have a tub, we sadly had to pass on that one.

Because this is done incrementally, it is surprisingly manageable. I find singing (very loudly) helps distract me from the initial sting of the cold and also helps me keep to the allocated time. Now, much to my disgust, I find a hot shower quite unpleasant and only have a luke warm one on days I wash my hair, followed by cold. (I have my limits!)

A much better and more enjoyable way to gain the benefits of cold immersion, is to swim in open water. And for the weeks before we gained our puppy, Hermione, we did.

Since we can’t leave the wee mite, just yet, we have reverted to the shower for our daily cold dose, but it really isn’t the same.

Research on cold/wild water swimming has shown that it can bring considerable benefits by creating resilience to stress, better mental health and a more active immune system. One of the most significant benefits for me is that it decreases inflammation – the cause of so much MS/autoimmune chaos.

If you wish to read further about the benefits of cold immersion, I recommend the BBC science magazine: https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/cold-water-swimming-why-an-icy-dip-is-good-for-your-mental-and-physical-health/

Though I cannot say that I exactly enjoy cold showers, they do serve their purpose. Since doing them regularly, my stress levels and anxiety are definitely reduced. I sleep better and I have a much greater sense of my capabilities. Managing a difficult, if small, challenge each morning, sets me up in a positive way. Most significantly, I have much more energy – needing less rest in the day and being alert for more of it.

Yoga

For the course, yoga was the exercise component of the programme. Great! I thought to myself. I practise yoga often and this is something even I can do. Well, I was right and I was wrong. With my own meditation yoga, I do it lying down and am always very impressed with myself when I can get up again. It is extraordinarily gently and slow. Wim’s yoga, taught by an excellent instructor, was anything but. I was up and down like a yo-yo and every new lesson involved increasingly difficult poses.

As with all the above, it was taught in a way that allowed you to go at your own pace and honouring your own limits. Amazingly, I managed nearly everything, if only in their easier versions and was once again surprised at what was possible.

Commitment

The third pillar of Wim Hof’s method is commitment. And I can see why. It is only through constant repetition of activities that we gain strength and resilience; it is only through stretching ourselves that we grow.

Even with these excellent tools, there is a limit to where I can go. MS is peculiar in that one can train and train and get fitter, only to slide back . But I reason that if this training takes me a little further, that the slide back does not go all the way, I will still be better off. And any progression with a degenerative disease is definitely a plus.

I once wrote a quote for the children and stuck it on the fridge. It read: ‘Commitment is the key to happiness’. And I would stand by it today. Whatever path you take to improve or maintain your well-being, commitment is key. The plus side is that once a helpful action becomes habit, it becomes easier. The downside is that I shall be taking cold showers for a very long time.