The Real Health Podcast: The mental health benefits of deep-breathing and cold-water therapy

On this week’s episode of the Real Health podcast, I speak to licensed Wim Hof instructor, Greg Xavier, on the benefits of cold-water therapy and deep breathing.

Greg started by telling me about his personal story and his struggles with mental health:

“For the last just over a decade, um, I have had a quite significant mental health struggles, I'll say, and it sort of began in my late teens with depression, that kind of thing. At that time, there wasn't much talk around mental health, particularly men's mental health that there is now.

And so, I kind of bottled it up, drank too much, that kind of thing. Unfortunately, it culminated when I was 21 years old in a suicide attempt. And, um, post that, I went in the traditional method of dealing with mental health, where I spoke to a family doctor, then a psychiatrist.”

Greg told me that after going the traditional medical route he wanted to investigate additional approaches and that is where he found cold water therapy and deep breathing; “there's great mindfulness benefits of cold-water therapy, and that's kind of been known for a long time. There are physical benefits, like how it's been scientifically proven to boost or improve serotonin levels,” he said.

The Wim Hof instructor explained that it's hard to think of anything else when you are in freezing cold water, “It's almost like forced mindfulness because put yourself in that scenario and try and think of anything other than the present moment,” he said.