Cold Water Might Increase Your Body's Tolerance to Stress and Disease
Ever since reading Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body last year, which first introduced me to the concept, I have been experimenting with this concept. I now go into the shower without allowing it to warm up. I also jump in the ocean without a wet suit on when no one else is in the water. I have found that if I hold my breath it really helps adjust to the shock and I rapidly acclimate to the cold. I have come to enjoy it and now view it as a healthy stress very similar to exercise.
Exposing your whole body to cold water for short periods of time is used to promote "hardening." Hardening is the exposure to a natural stimulus, such as cold water, that results in increased tolerance to stress and/or disease. This was demonstrated by a study involving 10 healthy people who swim regularly in ice-cold water during the winter.3 Following exposure to the cold water, researchers noted a:
"Drastic" decrease in uric acid levels: High levels of uric acid are normally associated with gout, but it has been long known that people with high blood pressure, kidney disease and people who are overweight, often have elevated uric acid levels. When your uric acid level exceeds about
5.5 mg per deciliter, you have an increased risk for a host of diseases including heart disease, fatty liver, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease and more.
Increase in glutathione: Glutathione is your body's most powerful antioxidant, which keeps all other antioxidants performing at peak levels.quoted from
fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/04/27/cold-water-immersion-benefits.aspxPost Edited (PeteZa) : 2/10/2016 8:44:11 PM (GMT-7)