And for anybody who is interested in the outcome of my 30 Days Cold Shower-Challenge: I didn’t make it (boooooooooooooooooh) 😉
BUT I have a lot of excuses (it was before Christmas, a stressful time because I finished my projects,….) AND also some learnings:
Pheeeeeeew, already one week has passed since my last post….amazing how time flies…
In the meantime I returned to home (I started the Cold Shower Challenge during my work stay in Berne, Switzerland) and surprisingly, it was A WHOLE LOT harder to continue the challenge at home:
the breathing excercises don’t work as well as when I started and it is way harder to face the cold shower in the morning.
Wow, it’s almost a week into the challenge. And I found something like a routine:
waking up (totally dizzy and still not really awake), breath a few times deep in and out, start 1-3 cycles of deep breathing:
deeply breath in and out about 30 times, for the last breath in, breath in to the maximum + breath out, hold the breath for as long as possible (just let it happen, don’t hold it forcefully), then breath in to the maximum + hold for 10 seconds, breath out again, breath normally for half a minute or so and start over (look up the Wim Hof breathing technique on YouTube for a thorough introcution)
Today was the first day I also washed my hear and had the cold water over my head….and it wasn’t bad at all 😉
I did three rounds of breathing before and everything was totally fine.
Additionally, I had a cool shower in the afternoon to cool off after a long day at work.
It is Wednesday, half-time of the work week, and after some days with too little or not relaxing sleep, I finally had a “normal” night of sleep. I also watched some more videos of Wim Hof the evening before, so I was perfectly prepared for another round.
I did three rounds of “Oxygen”-Breathing before I tackled the cold water, again with a warm “washing” part before.
Although I wasn’t really motivated for the cold, I’m always astonished that after a few seconds of adaptation, it feels like I would wear a body armor and the cold doesn’t really affect the front part and back part of the body.
The worst part for me is a) turning around (I always start facing the water) and have cold water on my back and b) my upper arms.
It’s really strange because I assumed that the extremities wouldn’t be really sensitive and the stomach would be really hard to get used to the cold but experiencing that it’s actually the other way round.
Besides of always being surprise that it “really works”, I don’t feel any different from normal, including mood swings, being stressed,…but then again it’s only day 4 😉
Today I woke up after a nightmare…not the typically one where one runs away and can never make it but more like a psycho one where one feels really bad afterwards…it was my first one of that sort but that didn’t make the experience any better…
Nevertheless, I sticked with my new routine. I also tried out a warm shower section first and only end with a cold shower and although it was a little harder, it was still doable.
So, 30 Day-Shower-Challenge, Day 3: Check
P.s.: no real dramatic changes in body experience or mood balancing yet
Today, I started the challenge right after waking up. As suggested in the video.
I did only one breathing cycle because I forgot that one can do up to three cycles.
Afterwards, I went to the shower. I was a bit skeptical because I LOVE my hot shower in the morning. Actually, my saying was: without a hot shower in the morning, the day is already not a good day.
But today I voluntarily started my day with a cold shower. And even with my doubts, it worked again. It took me a while longer to get focused and overcome the fear of cold. I also didn’t stay very long again but I did it.
I also noticed that soap doesn’t really work that well with cold water, so I probably have to change the routine to warm-cleaning shower first and just finish off with the cold shower.
I imagine that it’s going to be harder than just facing the cold shower but we’ll see and I’ll keep you posted 🙂
I’m still thinking a lot about what’s going to be from January 2018 on – and I don’t have a clue…at all.
I’m still trying stuff out, like my photographers online course, the advanced SQL course and I’m also surfing the internet for – even more – inspiration.
Today I came across Wim Hof and his breathing and expose to the cold technique which will help in the worst case to improve my immune system.
