Are you looking to unlock the natural health benefits of cold water? Adventurer Ross Edgley, the author of Blueprint and an ambassador for Vivobarefoot, suggests embracing the concept of 'getting wintered' by acclimatizing your body to cold water. ❄️ How to harness the cold? "Cold water triggers some extremely powerful survival mechanisms,” Ross says, and “controlling the body's response to cold could have huge health benefits down the line." Great news, but how to get started and stay safe? Three bits of advice resonated with us: 1️⃣ Acclimatise to control cold shock. Cold shock is panicking and hyperventilating in cold water. Dangerous, but also avoidable. As little as 30 seconds of cold to finish your shower is a great way to start acclimatising. More broadly, learning to control your breath under stress is really helpful - for chilly lakes and exercise generally. 2️⃣ Warm up slowly. Resisting a warm shower as soon as you step indoors is tricky, but will help you avoid ‘after drop’. When exposed to cold, your body restricts blood flow to your fingers and toes to protect your vital organs - something called ‘peripheral vasoconstriction’. But this process reverses as you warm up, and warming up too quickly can lead to shivering or hypothermia as your core temperature drops too fast. So be patient, research safe ways to warm up and look out for common hypothermia symptoms like shivering, confusion, amnesia and loss of consciousness. 3️⃣ Habituation, habituation, habituation. As ever, practice makes perfect. Repeated cold water exposure will typically reduce your shivering and discomfort. More generally, exposing your body to stress in a controlled way reduces that stress - an insight for cold swimming, barefoot walking and nature immersion generally. All the more reason to step out this winter Taking your first steps into cold water immersion? Sign up to the VIVOHEALTH online breathwork course to master the art of breathing under stress and control your body's response to cold. #trainnatural #coldwatertherapy #breathwork #vivobarefoot #blueprint #VIVOHEALTH