415: How cold therapy can supercharge your health | Mark Harper, M.D., Ph.D.

Mark Harper, M.D., Ph.D.: "People who took a cold shower every day had less sick days off of work.”

Harper, a cold therapy expert and consultant anesthetist at Sussex University Hospitals, joins mbg co-CEO, Jason Wachob, to discuss how cold water immersion can help reduce your inflammatory response, plus:

- How to practice cold therapy at home without spending a dime (~09:17)

- How to prepare for a cold plunge (~13:28)

- How long you should spend in a cold shower (~19:20)

- How cold therapy can reduce anxiety (~22:25)

- The future of cold therapy research (~33:21)

Referenced in the episode:

- Harper's book, Chill: The Cold Water Swim Cure.

- Read more about Doctor Brighton and The Sea Cure.

- Harper's paper showing that putting people through cold water adaptation programs before surgery could reduce complications.

- Study showing people who took cold showers called in sick 29% less than the control group.

- The Official Rules.

- mbg Podcast episode #392, with Emma Loewe.

- Harper's study on open water swimming as treatment for depression.

- Harper's research showing outdoor swimming had short- and long-term reductions in negative mood.

- Learn more about Chill UK.

- Watch's BBC's The Doctor Who Gave Up Drugs.

- Anecdotal account how cold water swimming helped one woman's long COVID symptoms.

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