I love health blogs, books, audibles and vlogs, they are especially fab when they confirm that something I already love doing is healthy! We all suffer a little from confirmation bias. In my drinking days, any article about Red Wine being good for you was quickly committed to memory. So when I repeatedly hear that cold water immersion is really good for you it is with some reluctance that I agree.
Over the years I have tried daily cold water showers, ice baths or regular dips in Rivelin. It always felt great about an hour afterwards but it was not a great motivator to wake up and jump in a cold shower. Yikes.
However, Jen and I know that we must do more cold water immersion. We know humans are meant to get cold, we know it has so many benefits and we are lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world with reservoirs on tap💦.
Here are just a few...
- Fires Up Your Lymphatic System
- Improves Circulation and Heart Health
- Reduces Inflammation
- Boosts Your Mood
- Strengthens Hair, Skin, and Nails
Rosie, Jen and I were joined by super R1ser Matt Glossop and his 6-month old chocolate Lab, Sid. Matt needed some more exercise as he attended Pilates@Home earlier in the day and from our view of the zoom room spent 45 minutes wrestling with Sid rather than doing Pilates.
Agden Reservoir is just above Damflask and it is one of our favourites.
The water was no way near as cold as we had thought and with the sun beating down it was wonderfully refreshing. Entrance to the water was really easy and being barefoot was no problem. You can park right next to the Reservoir or enjoy a short walk from Low Bradfield.
We splashed and swam for about 10 minutes and then headed back to Low Bradfield to the car.
Strangely enough, both Chris and Rosie suffer from Raynaud's phenomenon which reduces the blood supply to certain parts of the body (usually to fingers and toes) after being cold. We couldn't resist a photo of our purple and yellow post swimming fingers.
So we took some time out from a busy day, had an adventure, moved our bodies, enjoyed nature and spent some quality time with some fab teammates. If you can try and plan a bit of this type of stuff into your weekly plan it'll make you feel awesome and may even give you some funky coloured hands.