The first month of my resilience challenge is complete! I challenged myself to three cold dips a week in January. The challenge thankfully never felt like a chore and I weirdly looked forward to them.
I’ve been documenting over on Substack my 2023 resilience challenge as well as my 2023 self-reliance challenge.
I’ve shared over on this Substack post why I decided to do 3 cold dips a week.
And in this post, that I wrote for my paid subscribers I share all the scientific resources on cold dipping that I’ve found as I was researching this topic.
How To Get Started With Cold Dips
I had 4 ways of easing into it.
Step 1: I started by always finishing my showers with a cold shower. You can download the Wim Hof app and there is a cold shower challenge you can follow.
Step 2: I would have an Epsom salt bath every other night. I would leave the bath to cool down overnight and cold plunge in the morning.
Step 3: I would run cold baths with the tap turned all the way to cold.
Step 4: And finally I worked up to running a cold bath with the tap turned all the way to cold and then I’d dump 2 huge ice cubes in. I made the ice cubes by leaving water in Tupperware containers outside in the cold negative Ottawa weather.
My Next Step: I want to challenge myself to a cold plunge through the ice in the local river. I just haven’t had a chance to go out and meet with our local Wim Hof community of dippers yet. But I’ll definitely try before this winter is over.
The Benefits I’ve Seen This Month
I’ve been able to experience two benefits within a short amount of time.
I’ve experienced more energy when I dip in the morning.
But weirdly enough, when I dip in the evening after an infrared sauna session I experience deep sleep.
Are you a cold dipper? How do you make it happen for yourself? And for how long is each dip?