These last few months I have been starting my days with a cold shower. Yes, that is just as unpleasant as it sounds. However, the benefits I receive far outweigh the temporary stinging sensation from thousands of cold pinpricks. Benefits such as:

• Improved alertness

• Pain reduction

• Physical adaptations to controlled stress

• Improved blood flow

Why read, though, when you can watch? Enjoy the video of me getting cold for your amusement and edification:

Techniques I incorporate for a better experience:

• Deep Breathing method - wimhofmethod.com

• Cold Shower advice - onnit.com

• Self-Massage - maxwellsc.com

Lately, my morning mood has trended toward destitution. Robbed of feeling good by a combination of travel, grief, and a lack of medication refills due to a change in my insurance provider. What I noticed was that immediately following a freezing shower - I felt fantastic, and that mood carried for a few additional hours.

By that time, I had done enough over the course of my day to feel like a productive member of society and my mood stabilized.

If this feels too scary for you, I get it. But try it out for yourself anyway. Maybe not in the morning, it's okay to build up to that experience.

Instead, you can add a few seconds of a cold shower to the very end of your melt-your-face-off hot shower. That provides a delightful contrast, and your superheated body will welcome the cold balm of chilled liquid.

Another option would be to exercise and follow your exertions with a cool shower.

Point is: you do not have to stand under the shower head like me and suffer under a barrage of freezing water. I built my tolerance up to that and so can you!