Ice baths can believe it or not be looked at in bad taste by many regular bath takers.
Have you ever woken up on a cold morning or gotten home from a sweaty, tiring day and can’t wait to have a steaming hot bath or shower? Do you get annoyed or stressed whenever you turn on the tap and only cold water comes out?
It’s situations like these that cast a shadow on the popularity of ice baths, which can be criminally misleading!
Ice bath and cold plunge therapy are in fact some of the most effective ways of enhancing your wellbeing, whether it be your physical, mental or physiological health as a whole. Particularly, we are going to focus on why ice baths are perfect if you want to become more disciplined.
Whether you need to avoid procrastinating and become productive in whatever goals and tasks you’ve set yourself, or want to expose yourself to challenges instead of taking life easy or perhaps lazily, discipline is essential and ice baths are the perfect tools to aid this!
To put things simply, ice baths and cold immersion therapy in general have vast physiological benefits, whether that be mentally or physically!
When you expose yourself to cold temperatures, plenty of changes can take place within your body…
Specifically, your peripheral cold receptors will be activated which is what triggers your body’s stress response. Moreover, your brain will trigger your sympathetic nervous system which can release adrenaline and cortisol, hormones key for increasing your heart rate, increasing alertness, generating heat in your body and constricting blood vessels. These physiological changes can have numerous impacts on how your body functions and can lead to a far better sense of well-being and increased discipline!
Here’s a quick breakdown of some of the impacts:
Ice baths are a perfect example of the connection between physical discomfort and mental fortitude! It’s one of the reasons why discipline is far more valued than motivation when it comes to productivity and procrastination.
Given that the cold temperatures trigger your stress response and body’s sensitivity to temperatures, it’s safe to say that taking ice baths are uncomfortable for most people.
Nevertheless, experiencing the sensations of an ice bath are just a case of mind over matter. It’s all about training the mind to overcome the physical challenge and persevere through the discomfort.
In doing so, you’re also training your mind to develop a growth mindset, something fundamental for encouraging productivity and developing the urge to want to work towards personal goals in life!
This point adds on to my previous point about building mental resilience. Harnessing good discipline doesn’t come from taking one ice bath and never taking one again. Consistency plays an important role here and without it, you won’t develop discipline!
Making a consistent routine to take an ice bath is probably the easiest route to getting used to cold exposure therapy from ice baths. Working them into daily life can be done in so many ways. Particularly, they are great for post gym workouts in which you have sore muscles.
Perhaps waking up in the morning can be difficult for you. Ice baths are great way to wake you up without having to have a morning coffee!
Whatever way works for you, working ice baths into your daily routine is fundamental for your discipline and it’s for many reasons:
Here are some reasons why consistent ice baths are key for your discipline:
An ice bath will by no means offer a comforting sensation to your body. As mentioned previously, it’s inevitable that your peripheral cold receptors (unless damaged for some reason) will trigger your stress response and cause you to shiver and react significantly to the cold temperatures.
Nonetheless, this sensation is what will sharpen your focus and concentration. As your mind is entirely focused on trying to find comfort in the uncomfortable and telling you that the ice bath is too cold, you’re in a situation where you’re concentrating a lot on the shock of the situation.
Your body will tell you to get out of the ice bath, but by focusing on resisting the urge to escape the ice bath and concentrating on keeping as calm and as comfortable as possible, you are sharpening your ability to keep focused and concentrate.
Once again exposing yourself to regular ice baths is just a fantastic way to sharpen these traits and apply them to other day-to-day routines and work which you consider valuable or as long-term goals!
Just for a bonus, ice baths are fantastic when if comes to fitness. Whether you are suffering for soreness in your arms or legs or want to recover quick from any soreness, here are some fitness benefits that cold plunge therapy and ice baths can offer!
The fitness benefits:
You might be wondering why these benefits occur and it’s simple to explain…
One of the most prominent effects of ice baths on your body is blood vessel constriction. This will reduce blood flow to your muscles and hence minimise inflammation, soreness and also increase muscle recovery. This works really well alongside an electric massager to further relieve soreness and tension in your body!
Once your body begins to warm up after an ice bath, your blood vessels become less constricted, promoting better blood flow throughout your body. Once again, this is great for delivering the oxygen and nutrients needed for muscle growth and repairs.
Furthermore, the numbing of your nerves is also great for alleviating the pain of a hard workout, helping with overall wellbeing!
So if you want to make sure your body is in its best state to workout or engage in physical activity, an ice bath is your best friend without a doubt!
