I Tried Cold Shower Cycling For A Month — Here’s What Changed

My nervous system has been on overdrive lately. If a bus stops beside me and releases that high-pitched pressure sound and I will almost burst into tears. A horn will honk and I’ll have the urge to jump (maybe I do jump a little bit). My heart races when I’m startled — and I’ve had a hard time bringing it back to calm.

My fight or flight system is basically stuck on, so I sought help from a naturopath to get some tips. Backstory: I’ve lived with anxiety my whole life — and usually, it’s totally manageable, however so many things have been taken away/shifted since the pandemic (yoga, social connections, travel, general angst of the planet) and my walks and breathing techniques just haven’t been cutting it.

This resurfacing of anxiety all started when I did the project where I was drinking all summer (I write about that here)– it triggered my anxiety to come back in full swing. I hadn’t had a panic attack in years but now they were making a regular occurrence, sometimes out of nowhere. I muscled through it for a while, but if there is one thing I can tell you that 100% doesn’t fix anxiety — it's trying to muscle through. You need to accept it to let it pass, but I was struggling that that too.

After insuring that there were no underlying health issues contributing to my anxiety — Her main recommendation was that I try cold showers. I told her that I’ve wanted to try them for a while but just mentally can’t get myself to do it. I’m a strong person….I enjoy…