It’s a tough ask, but plunging your face, your head or maybe your whole body into cold water may help relieve anxiety.
Tim’s Story
Tim suffered from severe anxiety, which included panic attacks every week – sometimes even every day. That was until he met Mark Harper, who had been involved in some research into the use of cold water immersion as a potential treatment for depression. As anxiety and depression often go hand-in-hand, Tim decided to have a go.
Of the many forms of cold water immersion that are possible, Tim chose wild swimming, and so one autumn day he found himself in the River Wensum in Norfolk, UK. I imagine that lowering himself into a river on a cold autumn day must have taken some nerve.
“After a minute of my first swim, my feet felt as if I’d crushed them with a breeze block. This was not some glorious communion with Gaia. I was an idiot in a very cold river.”
Nevertheless, despite the pain of the cold water, Tim persisted. And the result … the panic attacks stopped completely.
Cold Water and Anxiety
There is something about immersing ourselves in cold water that appears to have a positive impact on our mental health. The shock of the cold water on our skin, our face or our whole body somehow seems to relieve the anxiety.
The science behind this appears sketchy at the moment. Some small trials have taken place that give us positive hope that cold water can be used as a treatment for anxiety and/or depression. Hopefully, larger scale studies will be conducted in the future, studies that will give a clearer scientific understanding of this phenomenon.
Of course, the lack of large scale studies shouldn’t stop us trying it for ourselves. If it works for you – it works for you … and if it doesn’t – it doesn’t. If you are brave enough to give it a try, then you can discover for yourself if it is a valuable tool to combat anxiety that you can keep in your toolkit.
Different Methods You Can Use
We do not all have to be as brave as Tim, plunging ourselves into icy rivers. There are less dramatic means.
Before you read on, remember to be sensible about this. Here are the obvious caveats:
- Suddenly finding yourself in cold water will slow down your heart rate, so if you have any concerns over your heart health, you should consult your doctor before trying.
- If you want to try jumping into a river, a lake or the sea – gets some information about how clean the water is first. You don’t want to be going into water where sewerage or industrial waste has been dumped.
- Don’t stay in the cold water for such a long time that your body starts to loose its core temperature.
So, bearing in mind the above caveats, here are a few ideas:
- Fill up a sink with cold water, hold your breath and place your whole face or head in the water for as long as you are safely able to do so.
- Either before or after you nice warm shower, turn the temperature right down and stand in the cold shower for a minute or so.
- Fill a bath with cold water, and get in as much of your body as you can.
- After a sauna, go into the shower and turn it on cold.
- Book yourself a session (or series of sessions) in a cryotherapy chamber – this isn’t water immersion, but it may have the same positive impact.
- Find a clean river, lake or beach and go for a quick swim.
One-Off or Long Term?
Is cold water immersion a one-off benefit when you are having a particularly anxiety-ridden period or a panic attack, or does it have long-term benefits? It is not possible (yet) to answer this question. There has been insufficient research to determine the optimal methods. So you need to try and see what works for you.
Some people suggest putting your face into cold water when you are particularly anxious, just to help you calm down in the moment. Others suggest you should have a cold shower on a regular basis.
What you need to do is experiment on yourself to find what works best for you. Pick out one or more of the ideas listed and try them. Note what happens if you are in a highly anxious state. Does the anxiety change immediately, or over time – indeed, does it work for you at all? The important thing is to have a go.
Why Does Cold Water Immersion Work?
Again, the jury is out on this one. Different sources suggest different reasons for how cold water immersion impacts anxiety. Those ideas include:
- A change in the chemicals in the brain brought on by the shock of the cold water – endorphins in particular;
- Slowing of the heart rate, which is usually high when you are anxious, so slowing it down reverses the anxiety;
- Your mind will focus on the impact of the cold on your body and so will put aside any worries for a while;
- The cold forces the parasympathetic nervous system (associated with calm and rest) to come into play.
Worth a Go if You’re Brave Enough?
It is a tough ask. Plunging your face, your head or your whole body into cold, even icy water is not the sort of thing that you do lightly. What is more, there is only a little scientific evidence that it works. But if you are brave enough to face it, I think it must be worth trying.
And Finally …
If you want help with your anxiety you might want to have a go at hypnotherapy. I help people with all sorts of anxiety-related issues, using hypnotherapy to help them get back in control of their lives. I work from my clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, as well as online, and would be happy to have a chat if you want to Contact Me.
Further Reading
There’s a Way to Get Instant Relief From Anxiety
Cold Shower for Anxiety: Does It Help?
https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/cold-shower-for-anxiety
Jumping into the Ice Bath Trend! Mental Health Benefits of Cold Water Immersion
6 cold shower benefits to consider
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/6-cold-shower-benefits-consider
I went wild swimming in a chilly river and haven’t had a panic attack since
Photos courtesy of Nuta Sorokina and Olavi Anttila on Pexels