The hottest health thing is actually really freaking cold.
Discover more from Lou O'Reilly takes out the trash.
The hottest health thing is actually really freaking cold.
Ice baths, more ADHD, more air fryer.
I blame Robett Hollis for this one.
He holds a business retreat type thing most years and the one I went to last year had strict instructions to “bring your togs and a towel”.
Given the retreat thing was happening at a reasonably cold time of year, I was a bit perplexed and intended to not bring my togs, but at the last minute I thought it might have been a spa type reason, so chucked them in my bag.
Reader, it was not spa type reason.
We left the warmth of our venue, for a freezing cold water dip on a rainy day.
Plenty of WTF’s and “He’s mad” and “I’m not doing it” from people around me.
But also, plenty of people super pumped to give it a go as well.
But why?
Ice bathing, cold therapy, or even contrast therapy has been around for a really long time - like thousands of years. But it’s really only just started to get cool (lol, see what I did there) in recent times.
Plunging your body into ice cold water, or even just cold harbour water like we did, causes blood vessels to constrict and get smaller, and then when you get out of the water, the blood vessels open up, pushing blood out to your organs. Doing this is supposed to give your organs a blast of oxygen and nutrients, thus removing lactic acid and waste from your muscles, helping them to be less sore after exercise.
In theory, anyway.
Other studies which are more believable / useful for me, is the benefit to mood.
I was reasonably apprehensive about getting into the harbour water, and when I did it took my breath away. Robett had partnered with Luke Taylor and Rachel Kelly from Taylored Health, who were coaching us through our polar blast. And I’m glad of it because my breathing felt almost non existent for the first 30 seconds in the water, after which I felt calm, elated, and ALIVE!
The rest of the day I had a spring in my step. No 3pm slump, just pure energy for the rest of the day, and possible the best sleep that night I’d had in years.
I’m not sure I could do another icy dip without a coach on hand telling me to breathe, but a blast of cold water in the shower has had a similar effect, when I’ve remembered, or been inspired to do that instead.
My last post on ADHD (mine, potentially yours) got some attention.
It turns out a whole lot of you are sitting in an undiagnosed haze. A bunch of you did the self assessment on the ADHD NZ website and were either surprised or not at all surprised at your results. I heard from a few people who have always wondered, did the test, and found they had a high score of more than 20! A score of 14 or higher is a good reason to go get checked out.
One colleague of mine asked for reading recommendations, and of course, because I have ADHD I couldn’t think of a single thing, beyond how I consume support material - through TikTok! But others helped out with reading recommendations (I love our ADHD village!) and so here’s what they said.
If you know more about the books please let me know what you think.
My quick go to air fryer meal
You might be grossed out by this, but since getting my beloved air fryer, I’ve actually been eating a lot better than pre-fryer days.
My go to meal for after the gym, or when I don’t feel like the blandness of what my kids are eating is birds eye fish cooked to perfection in the air fryer, with a dollop of tomato relish on the side. I know, the ultra processed brigade is probably after me, but for ease sake, this is delicious and super quick taking about 12 minutes to cook. Also no haters on my tomato relish with fish deal. I love tomato relish - it is my favourite condiment and I will have it on everything.
Thanks for reading this newsletter. I really appreciate the time you give to me for this and I hope you get some value from it. If you have any questions you can reply directly to this email or if you’ve landed here from a link, email lou@sweatypals.nz. You can also follow me on Twitter here, and instagram here.
Lou xx