MY WAY BACK | What The COLD Taught Me About Addiction, Anxiety and The Brain. (Cold Saved My Life)
Ice baths and Contrast Therapy exceptional for mental health balance.
Topics that have plagued me for years - anxieties, depression and addictions. Our mental states are highly affected by lifestyle. This can bring old wounding or traumas on all levels and intensities. I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist. I have lived with great amounts of trauma, have been in the trenches and developed addictions over the years. I had been deeply entrenched in the throws of emotional eating and drinking.
I now thrive in life from almost losing my life to my own battles.
Today, I feel that I am in control of the war inside. I have found by use of intrinsic foundational rights that we each are born with, hormetic stress, has helped me resurface from the inner depths of extreme darkness.
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Over the last two decades while alongside the battles, I struggled to understand why they plagued me and most importantly, I wanted to understand how to win. How to regain my life.
The more traction I gained with understanding biology, I was able to use the body for what it needed to make repairs and allow it to reset without drugs. The tools I used made sense.
Mostly, these tools made me feel alive. We all have these tools. And they are priceless, inexpensive, and powerful. Most of these tools have scientific backing, with more on the way.
But from years of using these tools we only need to know how it feels to know true efficacy.
My Personal Story: HOW COLD SAVED MY LIFE.
At the height of my near early death experience and near paralysis I weighed close to 300lbs. I went from a very active sport playing enthusiast, and all around nature outdoor person to sedentarism and metabolic destruction. My work life changed from 12 hours on my feet and movement, to a career where sitting in front of a computer and driving all day. I could barely walk from the pain of two bulging discs, one almost slipped and my left leg was weak. The severe pain had me writhing in agony in the back seat of my partner’s car on my knees in utter discomfort as she took me to the doctor. If that wasn’t enough, the doctor told me about the major issues I was facing and that a ton of medications were in my immediate future. I went home with muscle relaxants and painkillers to help me get through this situation first. This made me look deeply inside, and the outside too. Our skin tells us so much about what is happening on the inside. I had the markers for metabolic shut down - skin tags, acanthosis nigricans and a fat suit that made my head look like it was about to pop off.
The day that it all clicked.. With all I was studying about biology and self destruction, I knew what was happening but I couldn’t do anything to stop the proverbial train wreck.
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FIRST STEP:
STOP. Just STOP. Put down that vice (sugar, alcohol, non-medicinal substance, or whatever the vice you use), and get outdoors. Reconnection to the natural world - barefoot on grass if in a city park, or drive yourself out of the city and hike or sit near creek, stream, river.
WHAT ARE THESE TOOLS:
Breath - Breathing deeply - fully into belly and chest, then letting it go. There are many ways to breathe - but really, you don’t have to complicate it. Social media is really good at over complicating even the simplest basic needs. Most of you do not breathe at all. Your tummy should move and your diaphragm should too. If you feel light headed - congratulations!! Welcome to fully breathing. Take your time, and over time with practice, the light headedness will dissipate. You might also hiccup or burp. It is all okay. WHM breathing is an exceptional technique for those of you that get beyond the basics of breathing.
COLD WATER - This one is the most powerful but it must be teamed with breath. There are many ways to use cold, and for most of you, cold showers are a great place to begin - every damn day. Make your way up to 2-3 minutes. Use your breath.
CONTRAST THERAPY - NOTE: I have mentioned cold on its own, and we also have contrast therapy. Cold is the champion - but dry sauna heat is helpful vasodilation to oppose the vasoconstriction of the cold. Excellent for vascular movement and cardiovascular disease prevention. There are way more benefits But we are discussing depression, anxieties, and addictions here.
WEIGHT LIFTING/ HIIT: Crucial for life in general. When we stop using our body - stop with physical challenges of the body to burn off energy and excesses… the brain becomes clogged, foggy and our inner worlds become smaller. This parlays into mental and emotional turmoil, and “illnesses” we can reverse.
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HOW These TOOLS COMBAT - Addictions, Anxieties and Depression.
The body is the outlet for releasing pressures of life and the oxidative damages we create.
Metabolic dysfunction is the number one cause of over 90% of early deaths and all cause mortality today, including the “issues” in this blog.
More and more people isolate themselves today, and forgo working out, walking, movement for functionality and rely so much on aids. Once we get to that stage of life, the climb back to optimal health becomes even more tumultuous or difficult, next to impossible. BUT, it is doable.
We know where this leads us. And I feel I do not need to say more on how you might be feeling, but you get the gist of where you are and maybe how we get to this darker place.
The body begins to show trouble with slight pains, or aches, or functional problems..and rather than looking at the larger picture of what our lives look like in that exact moment, or even the weeks, months or years leading up to this point of pain, or poor feeling… masking the issues with pharmaceuticals is what you are sold to do. Without first making lifestyle changes to give you a chance. Those offerings are not there.
This is what I am helping you understand.
Our bodies want to repair if we give it what it needs and wants. Supportive therapy = thermal therapy = contrast therapy = TOOLS we are gifted within our foundational beings. Temperature use is how we are able to provide the body with hormetic stress (GOOD STRESS)., so we can handle the bad stresses with ease and without disease.
LIMBIC BRAIN SYSTEM
Here is the most exciting news. The limbic system is incredible, much like the rest of our body. It is quite complex, but I want t give you a tiny insight of how it works and why you feel amazing after an ice bath. For this blog - we are talking about the part of the limbic system that works well with the TOOLS of Necessity.
How the cold and exercise helps reset the Limbic System. The system is vast so I will concentrate on the basic response when the body enters cold water:
Cold gives the brain a controlled stressor and an opportunity to practice regulating the response instead of automatically reacting to it. Which makes it a very powerful addiction recovery concept. Combining cold baths with breathing exercises, mindfulness and exercise (TOOLS), and consistency matters. This is where most people give up. The expectation is to come in and ice bathe once or twice whenever they feel they need it, rather than sticking to a specific protocol or regime. Though you feel amazing once, it will not carry you on forever. Repetition, dose, time, and more factor into a regular practice.
Your limbic system is designed to protect you. When you train the body and breath through powerful control - This is what I teach clients - the power of your control retrains and resets the behaviours. This is such a gift for us all.
The high amounts of Noradrenaline (540%) and Dopamine (250%) provides the brain with positive stimulus without a crashing effect later, which is what substances and old neuron attachments would trigger old behaviours. There is no crash. There are no withdrawal symptoms. There is euphoria. There is better health and calmness. This helps the parasympathetic nervous system - vagus nerve - become resilient over time. You can handle the bad stress of life events easier and without moving to substances or old patterns.
SUMMARY:
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We can, if we want to, heal many parts of our body and mind. It takes knowledge, understanding and consistency.
I will be creating more blogs about this connection. If you want to learn more you can book in for coaching one:one where I teach you how to use contrast therapy and cold therapy, with breath and grounding practices for the ease of life.
See you in the next blog.
Denise Tompkins - Certified Thermalist® & Owner of Element Outdoor Sauna
