Bit of Context
This year in January, I read the book: "The Wim Hof Method: Activate
Your Full Human Potential". I'd heard of Wim Hof before, but I
thought that he is just some genetic anomaly, that he doesn't feel
cold. But the more I read, the more interested I became. Maybe
everyone can do it. And suddenly, the whole idea of cold exposure
became irresistible. I cleary wasn't the only one with the same
thought process, soon I had my social media feed flooded with people
exsposing themselves to cold and sharing their experiences. So here
is how it seem to me.
Days 1 - 7
First 7 days, I started with the 30 seconds under the cold shower and, the first few seconds were awful. The water drops were like small needles. As soon as my 30-second timer went off, I jumped out of the shower. And I told myself I wouldn't do this again. But after a few second, I suddenly felt great, and I decided to do it again.
Days 8 - 14
Next seven days, I doubled my exposure time from 30 seconds to one minute. After the first week, I started to look forward to the cold showers. They gave me a great start to the day (A cold shower definitely wakes you up.), and I also noticed that I had a slightly lower resting heart rate. But more importantly, it gave me a routine.
Days 15-30
I didn't notice any significant changes in the next seven days. But
the seven days after, when I started to prolong my time to 2
minutes, It suddenly became much harder for me to withstand the
cold. Don't take this the wrong way. I still had that fresh feeling
afterwards, but I didn't enjoy the process that much. Thankfully I
got used to the two minutes.
Final thoughs
I'm glad that I decided to start taking cold showers because it
improved my life and forced me to get out of my comfort zone. After
30 days, I'm still taking cold showers every day (I'm staying at two
minutes.). So what are you waiting for? Go and take a 30-second cold
shower. You won't regret