A few years back while on holiday in France, I realised that if I washed my hair in a cold shower it would look great the next day. So for the next two weeks, I had a cold shower every morning. And of course, everyday was a great hair day. I was excited to continue my new hair routine when I got home but I soon found that cold showers in a cold country wasn't easy. I quickly went back to hot showers and had to find a new way to get my hair to look good.

The next I heard of cold showers was when Wim Hof was a guest on the Netflix goop documentary series. Wim was my kind of guy; energetic, fun and young at heart. What he was saying about cold exposure and breathing exercises really resonated with me. It was during a time in my life where I was experimenting with meditation and the spiritual side of life. Over the next year, I would use cold showers to break me out "bad funks". Days where I was feeling like I needed a pick me up, I would jump in the cold shower. It was a sure fire way to make my body feel alive and connect my mind and body. However, a consistent practice wasn't there.

It wasn't until recently that I've been working on consistency. I've been thinking and reading about Wim Hof's methods. He says that cold exposure is training your vascular system. It's getting your heart to pump blood all the way through your body to stop it's temperature from spiraling. After hearing this, I was game for vascular gains. I stepped up my practice to every day, focusing on extending the time in the cold vs how cold I go.

From doing this everyday I've come across another small benefit that I'd like to share with you. It is similar to why people say you should make your bed in the morning. When you make your bed, you've already completed something. Good for you. It gives you a sense of pride you can take throughout your day. A cold shower gives you a similar sense of pride, but instead of being about getting stuff done this one is about fear. You get to experience a little bit of fear (cold water in your face) that you get to look in the eyes and say "Get stuffed!". Couple that with making your bed and you're ready to take on the world.

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