Kent Johns: health and well-being coach on the benefits of cold water therapy

Ice baths and cold plunges have grown wildly popular in recent years, thanks to podcasters, social media influencers, professional athletes and others touting their benefits. 

They have been found to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation after exercise, improve circulation and they've been linked to mood enhancement and stress reduction.

Health and well-being coach Kent Johns explains further.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks. I'd be right.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
A few weeks ago, on Winter Solstice, I had a
lovely swim at Takapuna Beach. I do love a cold
water swim, but what are the actual benefits of cold
water therapy? I'm joined by Kent Johnson our wellness section now.
Kent is a certified health and mental well being coach
and nutritional counselor at Kent John's Health. Are you a
fan of cold water therapy and a lovely winter swim? Kent?

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Hi, Francisco, I actually am, and I got into this
I reckon probably three three and a half years ago,
and what I found was that year there is a
lot of good science behind why just cold therapy or
cold exposure is great, but it doesn't really matter if
you can feel the benefits yourself. So that's what I
tell people, Hey, don't even worry too much about what
the science are saying. Get in there, give it a crack,

(01:00):
and then you'll work out whether you enjoy it or not.
And for most people the answer is yes, even though
at the time it may not feel like it.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
I don't know. Well, I mean it's very easy to say.
I know there are a lot of people around the
country who do it, and I'm much more impressed with
those who do it at Lake Topeul or in Wellington
or in Queenstown. Here yea are doing it, like a
lot of people have touched based on me. That's brave,
to be honest with you. If you're in Auckland or
for the North, yeah it's a little chili, but it's
kind of manageable, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, it is. The water temperature at the moment is
around you know, for most of the North Island anyway,
it's about fourteen to fifteen degrees. Normally in the summer
the water would be twenty one twenty two degrees. So
even if you jumped into the ocean now Francisca and
you'll be thinking, okay, this is not like an ice bath,
you will still notice how cold that water is, even
for or four minutes. So the benefits are still there

(01:49):
even if you're not jumping into an ice cold sort
of you know, freezer like temperature, even fourteen fifteen degrees
is really good for you. It helps reduce your inflammation,
good for stress, good for your mood at lowers your
heart rate. I was pretty a bit tense. I think
a week or so ago my heart rate was up
quite high. I can't remember what it was. It was
some form of stress. I thought, you know what, I'm

(02:10):
going to walk down to the beach, jump in the
ocean and see what happens, just as a bit of
a thought experiment. Jumped in for three minutes, looked at
my heart rateed and come down into the seventies. So
the benefits are pretty quick, and normally you feel great five, ten,
fifteen minutes after you get out. Can you be brave
enough to give it a crack, even a cold shower
for thirty seconds, you'll feel good afterwards. For most people

(02:31):
it can be worth it just to give it a try.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's interesting. I find it easier to walk into the
ocean in winter than turn my shower at home to
cold at the end.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, I'm the same as you, and I reckon. It's
because when you're inside show you've got the air. It's
not as it's not quite as nice as being out
in the actual immersion of a swim. Plus, of course,
when you're at the beach you've got the natural kind
of environment, which is really soothing and really good for you,
whereas in the shower you're like, oh my god, it's
too tending. You go to hot or go back to warm.

(03:01):
My tip for that, Francesca, for people that want to
have a crack at a cold shower, just start with
thirty seven at the end of your shower. Don't force
yourself to do three or four minutes cold. Try thirty
seconds to start with. Have a time if you need it.
And what I found works really well is rather than
going from a nice warm ambient temperature to cold, turn
it up to hot. So have yourself a hot shower

(03:21):
for a little while, because then you'll be thinking, oh,
you know what, I'm ready now for some cold. Then
switch it round to cold, even for thirty seconds, You'll
feel great when you get out. It's worth it.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
I will give it a try, and look if you're
in the if you are sort of outdoors in the
ocean or in a lake or something, I try and
do ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Is that kind of den's great. I went for one
in Fongamte yesterday. The water was really cold. I did
six or seven minutes and I felt I felt the
benefits from that, the key is to get yourself relaxed
and calm when you're out there, and the best way
to do that is to breathe through your nose, so
you know, when you're like you find yourself breathing through

(03:59):
your mouth and your tents. Just if you can breathe
through your nose within sixty to ninety seconds, you will
calm yourself down. You can actually endure the cold, and
that's when you can stay out there for longer and
get the real benefit from that.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Love it Ken, Thank you so much. There we go.
That's something to do with the kids these holidays. If
they're annoying, you take them for a cold water swim.
I tell you what goes down well not.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudken, listen
live to news Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.