The Beth Goodrham Podcast - Lifestyle & Health for Women

Why Cold Plunges Are A Midlife Woman’s Health & Lifestyle Secret

• Beth Goodrham

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Have you ever wondered why anyone would willingly submerge themselves in freezing cold water? I’ll admit, I used to think it sounded like absolute torture — but after trying cold plunges and speaking with enthusiasts, I’m hooked!

Learn how cold plunges and ice baths help midlife women reduce inflammation, lift mood, and feel truly alive — all from the comfort of home.

In this episode, I share why this icy ritual isn’t punishment — it’s a shortcut to feeling revitalized, easing aches, and calming your mind. I’ll walk you through the benefits of cold plunges and ice baths for midlife women, my personal step-by-step routine, and tips to get started safely at home. Plus, I’ve got a free guide to help you take your first plunge without the guesswork.

Whether you’re curious about cold water dipping, ice baths, or just looking for a natural way to boost energy and reduce stress, this episode is for you. And no swimming is required!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • How cold plunges and ice baths can instantly revitalize your energy and lift your mood.
  • Why cold water dipping is a natural tool to ease muscle aches, inflammation, and joint pain.
  • How cold plunges can reduce anxiety, improve mental resilience, and even feel meditative.
  • My personal cold plunge routine, including gear, timing, and practical tips for beginners.
  • How to safely incorporate ice baths at home — no lake or swimming skills required!

Why Cold Plunges and Ice Baths Are So Powerful for Midlife Women:

  1. Boost Energy Naturally – The release of endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine leaves you feeling euphoric and ready for the day.
  2. Ease Aches and Inflammation – Cold water works like an ice pack for your muscles, reducing soreness and joint pain.
  3. Calm the Mind – Deep controlled breathing and the immersive nature of the plunge can reduce anxiety and stress.
  4. Build Resilience – Over time, cold plunges help you handle everyday stress with more ease and mental clarity.

Equipment You Might Need:

  • Cold plunge tub or ice bath (outdoor or indoor; even a regular bath can work)
  • Neoprene gloves and boots
  • Swimwear or a comfortable swimsuit
  • Hat to retain body heat
  • Towel, shower, and warm layers

Free Guide:

If you’re ready to try a cold plunge but want a little guidance, I’ve put together a free step-by-step guide, including recommended gear and tips to make your first experience safe and enjoyable. Download it via the link in the show notes.

Final Thoughts:

Cold water plunging might seem intimidating at first, but once you understand the benefits, it becomes something to look forward to, whether it’s a morning energy boost or an evening moment of calm. This simple practice can have a powerful impact on your mind, body, and overall wellness — and you don’t need to be a swimmer or leave your home.

Helpful Links:

Have you ever wondered why anyone would willingly submerge themselves in freezing cold water? I'll admit, I used to think it sounded like absolute torture, but after talking to cold water plunge enthusiast, trying it myself and understanding the signs behind it. I'm hooked Today, I'm sharing why this icy ritual isn't punishment. It's actually a shortcut to feeling revitalized, easing, aches, and even calming your mind. Hi, I'm Beth, and welcome to the podcast where we explore ways to feel good, stay resilient, and embrace life in midlife without unnecessary stress. If you are new here, thank you for listening. It's always fabulous to have new listeners along for the ride and however you found the podcast, whether that's through a recommendation. Through searching the podcast app via Instagram or an Instagram reel. I hope that you feel welcome, that you enjoy the episode, and that you join me next week. New episodes drop at 4:00 AM each Monday because I know that some of you are early birds, and hopefully listening to a podcast episode is a nice and gentle way for you to start the week. Today I'm diving into the world of cold water plunges, the tips, the rituals, the benefits, and everything I've learned along the way. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why cold plunging might just become your favorite anti-inflammatory practice, and I'll even share my step-by-step routine so you can try it safely yourself. The reason that this podcast episode has come about is that I've recently had two people ask me about cold water plunging, and so I thought we could have a little conversation about it here on the podcast. But before we get into the conversation, it might be helpful for you to know that a while ago I wrote a blog post about cold water plunging, and I've linked to it in the show notes, should you like to go and take a look at it. Blog posts, which support these podcast episodes can be quite handy because they include images which might give a little more context to whatever it is I'm talking about. So if later in the episode when I'm talking about what my cold plunge pod looks like, you're thinking, Hmm. I'm not quite sure that I understand what she's talking about. Well, there's a picture in the blog, which should help with that. Anyhow, back to the conversations that I've had with people recently. Like I mentioned, I've had two conversations. The first one was last Friday night with a friend of mine called Sal, who has recently left her work and moved down to Dorsett with her husband. And I think cold water plunging is something that she's thinking of taking up. And I remember when I first started thinking about it, I didn't really have a clue of what it looked like in terms of. What equipment I would need, what I'd be plunging in, how long I'd be in there for, whether I do it all year round, whether I need a chiller. So I said to her, okay, I'll do a podcast episode on it to try and join the dots for you. And then on Tuesday of this week, I was chatting to a personal trainer that I'm working with called Mike, and I was explaining about cold water plunging to him, and he said, I don't understand. I hate the thought of it. I'm always cold. And I said, don't worry. I'll do a podcast episode on it for you. So Mike, this is for you. You can be our honorary chap listening to the podcast episode. Anyhow, back to the very beginning. When I began having conversations with people I knew who swore by their daily cold water plunge routine, I started to realize that there was more to this malarkey than I had imagined. They spoke about it in a really animated way, which made me think, hmm. I think maybe this requires a little bit more investigation. It was hard to ignore their enthusiasm for it, and I was kind of intrigued by it. I was thinking, am I missing out on something here? And the first lady that I spoke to about it had mentioned that she had taken a cold plunge every day on holiday. When she and her husband got back from their holiday, they knew that something felt off, but they didn't know what it was. And of course. You could just say, well, obviously you were having a great time on holiday and now you're back in the real world. But she identified that it's because she wasn't having her daily cold water plunge, and she was the first person that I spoke to about it. And she would tell me how she would get up from her desk at lunchtime, how she would go into the garden, she'd do her plunge, she'd come back, and she would feel great for the afternoon. I think there's a little bit of me that thought, this sounds so awful and it's so something that I really don't like the sound of, but I'm kind of intrigued about why you would do it. So maybe there's more to it than meets the eye. Some of the things that people have talked about are, first of all, feeling instantly revitalized. One of the most common things I heard was how invigorated people felt after a cold water plunge. They described feeling it as a natural energy boost, leaving them alert, focused, and ready to tackle either the day, if they were doing it in the morning or the rest of the day or the evening if they did it at nighttime. I've read a lot around it and I know that cold water plunging releases endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine, which might explain that feel good feeling. And I know from when I've done it myself, I definitely have a buzz afterwards. I dunno if it's just having done the challenge, doing something that I thought I would never do. Or literally having that kind of post-exercise buzz of all of those endorphins, the serotonin, the oxytocin, and the dopamine. Another benefit that people talked about was pain relief. And I've spoken to quite a few people around this and done reading and research around it and runners. People with fibromyalgia, arthritis and those who sit at desks all day have all found that cold water plunging help reduce their muscle soreness and pain. And if you think about it, it probably makes sense given that the cold water works by reducing inflammation. Similar, how we use an ice pack to soothe an injury. So those two things combined, the feeling instantly revitalized and the relief from aches and pains was definitely something that made me think, Ooh yes, let's take a little further look into this. The third benefit that people spoke about and one which I found really interesting was its impact on mental health. Now, I'd done quite a lot of reading around cold water swimming, and many of you may have done as well, and how it had a massive impact on people who were suffering from depression, and the two aren't that dissimilar other than to do cold water plunging. You don't have to be a great swimmer. You don't need to drive to a lake. You can literally do it in the comfort. Your back garden, and that's something we'll come to in a minute, but back to the reducing anxiety element, many people told me that cold water plunging helped them manage stress and anxiety. The initial shock of the cold has been shown to force deep controlled breathing, which as we know with breathing naturally calms the nervous system. And over time, this practice also builds resilience. It makes everyday stresses feel more manageable. And several people that I've spoken to have compared it to meditation, explaining how it left them feeling. Grounded and refreshed. And I have to say that I have experienced all of these things from cold water plunging. There's definitely something about getting into the cold water. That means that you are completely in the moment. There's nothing else that you can think about. You really are just focused on the here and now. And then as you get a little bit more comfortable in the water, it actually gives you an opportunity for your mind to wander. So maybe it's the combination of the two that works, but what I'm going to do now is to come on to what you need for a cold water plunge. Because if you're anything like me, you can't imagine starting something new until you can see what it looks like in your head. I had so many questions. I was like, well, where do you put it? How do you fill it? When do you change the water? How much money do I need to invest in this? Is there any special kit that I need? I just couldn't quite figure out what it all looked like. So if you are thinking about even very vaguely or are ready to try cold plunging, there's some essential items that I think you will need to get started. Now I was going to start and dive straight into the cold water plunge tub, but actually you can do this at home in the bath if you want to. You don't need to buy a special plunge tub for outside. You can just fill the bath with cold water. I have to admit, I've never done that myself, but I have a friend who loves it and she swears by it, and it's great for her. I think she's probably a bit more hardcore than I am. I think for me the dissonance between expecting to get into a bath, which was normally full of warm water to find it was cold, might be a bit of a shock to the system, but going outside and getting in water, which I know and fully expect to be cold. My brain, my pee sized brain can deal with that. So anyway, cold water, plunge tub, not an essential'cause you can use the bath, but whether it's a dedicated ice bath or a simple outdoor tub, you need something to hold the cold water. And I've spoken to people who had, you can get them from places like Etsy, probably Amazon, like a big tin bath, literally a big tin bath, and use that. The advantage of those is that you can lie flatter. Some may see that as an advantage. I wasn't sure that I did to start off with, I just, I just think I thought that I'd be happier sitting upright and that it would be a bit easier. Not that I like an easy way out or anything, but after doing much research and asking around, I opted for the Lumi Pod ice bath, which I'll link to below. And like I say, you can always head to the blog post, which I've linked to below. So you can take a look at it in action there. When I bought mine, there was an offer on, and I think it was about 69 pounds. So they're not super expensive. The reviews of the Lumi Pod ice bath were good. It seemed large enough. I think it came in different sizes. I think there's a couple of different sizes, and I got the larger one, so maybe mine's the Lumi Pod Ice bath Max. So it seemed large enough for me and it wasn't crazy expensive either. So that's the first thing is something to put your cold water in that you can also climb into. The second thing is the neoprene boots and gloves. I don't wear these in the summer. But in the winter, they make it so much easier to climb into cold water, obviously, particularly the booze. They help to keep extremities warm and make the experience more comfortable. And I think these are really important. I've had mine for many years now. I use them for cold water swimming and for when I go and swim in a waterfall, you can get them on Amazon relatively inexpensively, but to me, they make a massive difference. The difference between, excuse the pun, sink or swim. Doing it and not doing it. Now you can do it naked, but the third item I would come to would be some form of swimwear. Again, it doesn't have to be anything fancy for going in a cold water plunge, just a swimming costume, normal swimming costume, a bikini, brown, and pants, or nothing at all. I prefer to go in a bikini. I find that a cold, we swimsuit either in the water or out of it, does not help, but everybody's different. So just go with what you've got in the cupboard. No one else is going to see it. If it's a little bit old and a little bit baggy and needs a little bit of an update, that is fine. Put her to good use in your cold water plunge tub. The next thing I use, particularly in the winter is a hat. So that helps to retain some body heat and to protect your head from the cold. It's also really useful if you are out there in the brain or the snow or it's windy or it's hailing, or if the conditions are a little unsettled. I wear a 100% will sauna hat in my cold plunge, which. I sell on Amazon from my brand Denim and Derby, but you don't have to use one of those. You can just use a bubble hat. That will work perfectly well. Something with a bit of a brim acts more like an umbrella when it's raining or windy. That's why I wear our bucket hat,'cause I can kind of hide underneath it and just peep out and let the world around me go on from the safety of my little bucket hat. But. It's entirely up to you. It doesn't need to be a swim hat or anything like that, but just something that's going to insulate your head and keep you a little bit warm and protect your head whilst you're out there. It's also really handy for when you come out to have a towel at the ready and to know whether you're going to be heading straight for the shower, which some people like to do to warm up, or if you want to take the other approach and let your body warm up naturally to have a space you can go to, to whip your wet layers off as soon as you can to give yourself a quick towel dry and to put some warm layers on because the aim is to get. Warm as soon as possible, whether that is by external means such as a warm shower or going into a bath or lying on a heated mat, or just letting your own body warm up naturally, and I think you maybe have to test those things out and figure out what it feels like for you. Certainly in the winter, if it's really cold, then I prefer to go into a warm shower. Particularly if I'm doing it at night, because otherwise I get into bed and I'm really cold and it takes me a while to get to sleep because I'm so cold. So it's kind of a case of seeing what the temperature's doing outside, seeing what you're doing during the course of the day, and knowing how much time you've got to be a little bit uncomfortable whilst you warm up. So let me talk you through my cold water plunge routine and just a little bit of advice that you may wish to take or you may. Not wish to take either is fine. I've tried and tested a few different things. I've been doing it for pretty much a full year now, so I've done it through all of the winter where I've had to smash the ice and slice half of it on top of the remaining piece of ice so that I can can climb in and sit underneath it. And I've done it all through the summer as well. So my preference is to cold plunge in the evening, but many people do it in the morning, and sometimes if I'm really short of time, I will do it first thing in the morning. I'll get up, I'll do a workout, and because I'm warm from the workout, then I'll go straight into the plunge. That is fine and it gives you a really good energy boost. For me, taking a cold plunge in the evening gives me something to look forward to during the day. I know that sounds bizarre, but there we go. But when it's cold outside and the stars are out, especially if you're under a full moon and the owls hooting, all of which I've had, well, there's nothing quite like it. My cold plunge pod really is a place of. Perfect peace before bedtime. When I'm getting ready to cold plunge, I follow, I say a specific process, but it's just kind of a tried and tested method like we all do for things that we get used to doing,. Just to make the experience as easy and as effective as possible. So the first thing, I always make sure I'm warm before I go in, and this is something that I was talking to Mike about because he was saying that he's always cold, that he has to wear jumpers around the house. And I totally get that. I am the world's biggest wimp when it comes to being cold. I have rain outs, I have the work. So if you are listening to this and thinking, but I run cold, I'm not a hot person. Don't let that put you off. Ultimately, it doesn't become about the temperature of the water, it becomes about the experience and the feelings afterwards. There's lots of things we do in life that the experience itself to start off with isn't that pleasant, but we get to a point where we see the benefits of doing it, and because of that, the experience itself in this case. Climbing into the cold water doesn't become such a big deal because you know where it's going to lead and you know that that place is a place that's worth getting to. But I always make sure that I'm warm before I go in. The thought of being in the house shivering and then climbing into cold water does not inspire me with joy or anything positive. So I warm up before I go in. Whether that's because. I've just come home from a yoga class and I'm warm. Whether it's because I've done a workout at home and I'm already warm, whether it's because I've put lots of layers on and that's made me warm, or I've lay on my heated mat or taken a, a warm shower or, or because I've sat by the fire, whatever it is, just get a little bit heat into your bones so that you don't go in feeling cold. That just feels miserable to me. Then the next thing I do is I put on my bikini, I put on neoprene gloves and boots and a hat. I'm quite careful to make sure that I don't get a lot of detritus into my water, because then that means you have to change it more often. So what I will do, and this is a very classy look, ladies have to say, and Mike if you're listening, is to put my Crocs on. And then walk up next to my cold water dipping pod. Take my foot outta my croc and put it straight into the water. And the same with the other one, because my pod is out on my decking and I don't want leaves and dirt and what have you in the water. It just means that you have to change it more often. So that's a top tip for climbing into your pod. I also listen to music when I'm in my pod, or what I found a little bit more helpful recently is to listen to podcast episodes, but of course you don't have to listen to anything at all, and I only play it through one headphones so I can still hear the sounds of nature around me. Now, the reason that I moved away from music was because I'd got overly familiar with where I was in a track and how long I'd been in the water for. So. Became more about the time as opposed to the experience. Whereas if I'm listening to a podcast that I haven't listened to before, the time will drift away with me more. So I would always listen to the same Taylor Swift songs and I'd get to a point in the song and think, okay, I've been in here for two minutes, 30 seconds. How is this feeling? Am I still cold? Am I still this? Do I want to get out? Oh, I know the next song. This time last week I stayed till four songs in, but today I only feel like staying for three songs in. Does that make. Too many questions, frankly, and we want to be getting away from questions. So instead, if I'm just listening to a podcast, something that I don't have any timestamp on, I dunno where it's going. That is actually much better. So that's just a little, little tip. So just to recap, I've got my bikini on let's say we are next to my pod. I'm starting my music and I climb in and I lower myself down without hesitation. There cannot be any faning around on this. Excuse my phrase, but they can't because you just won't do it. You'll just get out. Again, the whole idea of, to me, but take from this what you will and leave the rest behind. To me, the whole idea of standing there whilst I'm deciding whether to get in or not, does not work for me. I think that's because I had so many summers growing up in Guernsey where the water was cold, and if you've ever been to Sark, the water is flipping freezing there because of the cliffs. You couldn't mess about, you just had to get in. So I've always been a firm believer in you just grit your teeth and you just get in. So that's how it works for me. But by all means, test things out. And it doesn't mean that there has to be a, you have to be in two seconds. It is a very sort of calm flow. It's like one foot in the second foot in, bend down knees in dah dah. There we go. As opposed to a right. You know, have to get in and be under the water in two seconds. It's just a gentle flow, like as if you're doing yoga and you're doing a lovely yoga flow. That's what it looks like. And quite often I will sit down and I will just close my eyes and I'll take 10 deep breaths. I prefer controlled breathing, ensuring that I don't pant or hyperventilate. I have been to cold dipping where there's a lot of kind of. Heavy in and out, breathing and panting. And frankly, my head just goes, oh, about faint. No, I'm not about that. It might work for some people, but that's not what I want from this experience. I just want it to be calm. And I think as women, we are pretty good at that. Women give birth, women do all sorts of tricky things where you just kind of have to gently breathe your way through it. So as I say, I find that panting and over-exaggerated breathing leads to dizziness and a bit of a state of anxiety. And that's no guys, that is not where we want to be. So I just do 10 deep in and out with my eyes shut, um, whilst my body acclimatizes to the cold water. Then I open my eyes and I take in the scenery. I've got four poplar trees that I look at, and what I love about those trees is that there's a little, well, it's quite a big evergreen in front of it, and whatever the time of year that evergreen tree. Is always the same. The other trees around it, the poplars and all the other trees in the winter will lose their leaves. But my evergreen, she stands there and she is steady as a rock. She looks the same all year round. So I take a good look at her. I look down the garden, depending on the time. Sometimes the bats are flying around, sometimes the stars are out, and as I'm sitting there looking up in the sky, more and more of them will start twinkling. Sometimes I'll see airplanes going over. If I'm very lucky, the police helicopter will go over. I will look into the allotments. I will see other trees. I would see pitch blackness. I'll see trees moving and the squirrels are in them. Sometimes a robin will be out, you know, there's so much going on out there. There's the owl hooting. All sorts of things going on, and it is just wonderful to be outside. And at this point I always try and smile and just think, how lucky am I to be sitting in this pod of freezing cold water, feeling great. Now, it's important to feel the sensation. So whilst you're in the pod, rather than experiencing the cold as painful, I notice it sometimes, actually, it's quite a warm feeling. And that doesn't mean hypothermia setting in, but it's a, like a prickly feeling on your skin, like, um, that little ants crawling over it, but in quite a warm way or a tingling as your body adapts. But more than that, I try not to really think about it. I just listen to my music or my podcast and feel gratitude taking the view and just let it wash over me. What you will find is that if you sit very still. This is one of my key things. Do not move around once you are in that water and you are comfortable. And Mike said to me, and I think Sal said to me, do you go up to your neck in it? Mine is deep enough to do that, but, but water, as you know, is very buoyant, so I don't always lower myself. All the way down. If I don't want to be up to my neck in it, then I'm not. Sometimes I have my shoulders out. Don't see it as something that has strict and fast rules around it. Do what works for you? I think I find that if I go in up to my chest and part of my shoulders being covered, then I'm okay with it and I'm more likely to do it. Whereas if I went in up to my neck and I was miserable, I probably wouldn't do it again. So it's just a case of finding out what works for you. So my top tip yes, is to stay as still as possible because your body will create a little thermal insulation layer around yourself, like a ready brick ad. You just slowly heat the water around you. And I know this is the case because when you move to get out, the water will suddenly feel very cold, and that is because you've broken that little layer around you, which I think is quite magical. When it's time to exit, then I get out. You know, don't do it too quickly. But again, nice, smooth, gentle flow. Get out, put my Crocs back on. Go inside. I've got a bath mat just inside the back door. Take off my crocs, wrap my towel around myself. Sometimes remove my swimwear there. Go upstairs and then either have a shower, put warm layers on. Lie on my mat once I've had my shower or put my layers on, depends on the time of year and how cold it is. I always make sure that as soon as I get out I put the lid back on my cold plunge and zip it back up because you want to maintain the water. For as long as you can. And after you've done that, when you've dipped, when you've showered, when you've, whatever you're going to do to get yourself warm, that's when all these lovely feelings start to come in. I think it's worth saying a little bit about timing here. So whatever feels right for you is the right amount of time to stay in a cold plunge when you first put your toe in. It is true. That might feel about three seconds, but once you've settled yourself in and you've studied your breathing and you see how you feel, then is a good time to kind of figure it out. It's a little bit like yoga when you get on the mat is different each time. Some days you will find that you can sit in there for a couple of minutes and that's it. You're done. You're ready to get out. Sometimes you'll sit in there for five minutes, seven minutes again. Just see how it feels. There is no right or wrong. The aim is to get to a place where you are not focused on the time or focused on the cold. So counting or setting timers might be counterproductive to the aim of cold plunge. As it keeps you focused on the wrong things, the aim is to let your mind wander. One cold plunge expert that I did a session with. When it starts to feel comfortable, that's the point in time to get out and I think. As a starting point, that is probably really good. Other advice is one minute for every degree of temperature. So, you know, three degrees, three minutes, five degrees, five minutes, minus one degree. Not sure what the answer is to that at all, but just listen to your body and see how it feels. Whilst accepting that it will take you at least a couple of minutes, two to three minutes, I think, just to adjust to, to the cold. The other thing worth remembering is that it's very different for men and women and a lot of what is written about cold water plunging and cold water dipping is designed around men and what works for their bodies, and women are different to men. We are not just little men. We are completely different. So if you are reading around the subject, just be aware that a lot of the research is done on men and not on women. And so I would come back to the point which the expert that I had the ice plunge with, what he said is, just stay in until it doesn't feel really uncomfortable and you do feel comfortable in the water. And in fact, a friend of mine, Joe, came and did. The ice plunge with me and a friend, Jane, three of us did it together on a retreat that we went to earlier in the year. And when Joe first got in, and I've got it on video, she was like, oh, this is cold, this is cold, this is cold. And the guy was so brilliant with her and he just sat next to her and we looked at, we had a fabulous view over towards Southampton and down over towards the Isle of White. And then it got to the point and he went, right, you can get out now. And she looked round and she went, oh. Have I finished? I forgot to get out now. And if you'd have compared where she was when she got in to where she was, when it was time to get out, the two were worlds apart and that was her first dip and she has since gone on to buy a cold water plunge. So that is a great example of somebody who thought, nah, this isn't for me. I, I am really not vibing with this. And then she absolutely loved it. So just a couple of practical things about changing the water. In the summer, you'll need to change the water more often. Some people say every three days, I think, I didn't ever do that'cause the water didn't need it. But maybe once a week, once every 10 days, then it's necessary to change the water in them and. My pod comes with a little tap, like a little beer barrel tap at the bottom and a pipe to attach to it, and I just hang that over the edge of the decking and empty it out and let that water the plants below. Then I give it a good clean out. I just use. And don't quote me on this'cause I'm probably not meant to, but it's worked so far. I use a bowl of, uh, soapy water with washing up liquid in it. I just give it a good old clean out and give it a rinse out, and then I refill it. The lid needs a clean as well. So the way that my plunge works is it looks like a play pen. But it doesn't have netting in it. It's not inflatable. It is got rigid poles down the side, but there is an inflatable ring around the top, which is all integral to it. You can just blow it up, and that is so that you can rest your neck on it. And then there's a separate inflatable lid that goes on top of that. And I have an insulating layer as well, just to keep the water temperature a little bit more consistent all year round. But I think more importantly than that, it's silver and I just like the look of it when I look out the back windows. It doesn't look like a really big dog imposing black pod on the decking. It just looks a little bit nicer because it's all shiny and silver. And in the winter I change the water less because it's colder and you don't get the same amount of activity going on in it, I suppose, with bacteria but you can put bromine capsules in it, but I haven't done. I don't really like the idea of sitting in chemicals other than my fairy liquid, which I've hopefully rinsed out. But again, have a little read around the subject and see what you think might work for you. But if you've ever been curious about cold plunging and hesitant to take the plunge, literally, I'd encourage you to give it a try. Whether you are looking for an energy boost. Pain relief or a natural way to ease anxiety. The benefits, I think, speak for themselves and arguably, it's one of the quickest, cheapest, and most effective ways to get a multitude of health benefits in a shorter time as possible and as least expensive way as possible. And I am all about that as I navigate midlife, like many of you out there and all of the beautiful and sometimes challenging things that it brings our way. I found that adopting an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, part of which is cold water dipping and cold water plunging has really, really helped. There are lots of cold water plunge pods available, and some of them come with a mechanism that you can use to cool the water down. They tend to be more expensive. We are looking at probably over 500 pounds for those. I don't personally have one of those. I just let nature take its course. And if it's cold outside and the water's cold, great. And if it's a bit warmer and the water's warmer, great. That's fine with me. I don't need to go any further than that. But like I say, the Lummi Pod ice bath that I had, I've found works really well. 69 pounds. You can get yourself up and running so quickly and I dunno about you, but I'm really at the stage where I want my home to be my sanctuary and for there to be things easily available on tap that are inexpensive, but which make a massive difference to how I'm feeling. And a cold water dipping tub absolutely ticks all of those boxes for me. Cold water plunging might seem intimidating at first, but once you understand the benefits, it becomes something to look forward to. Whether it's a way to start your day with focus or end it with gratitude and peace. It's a really simple practice that can have such a powerful impact. If you are ready to try out cold water plunge, but want a little guidance to get started safely, I've put together a free guide, full of tips, step-by-step instructions, and my recommended gear. You can download it through the link in the show notes. Trust me, once you experience your first few plunges, I think you'll understand why so many people swear about it. And if you don't, don't worry. I'll test out some other things and share those with you on here. In fact, if you think that something warmer might be up your street, I've got a podcast episode on saunas, which I'll also linked to in the show notes below so that you can take a little listen to that instead. And if there's anything that you want me to try out. I am very happy to be a Guinea pig. I love testing things out. And being as healthy as we can for as long as we can. So if there's anything that comes to mind within reason that you want me to test out, let me know. I am here for that. Thanks for listening. I will see you next Monday morning and until next time, keep embracing practices that make your body and mind feel amazing. You take care. Lots of love and bye for now.