Cold showers Cryogenics and Kristie

The Crows had just played The Gold Coast Suns. A news article showed them having cryogenic treatment after the game which they said was about 80 degrees below zero (presumably Fahrenheit)

I first became aware of cryogenics about 30 years ago. There was a T.V. series in the 1980’s titled ‘Beyond 2000’ which featured inventions we might expect to see beyond  the year 2000. One particular program featured cryogenic therapy in Japan. People who were previously crippled with arthritis were interviewed, they even showed before and after x-rays of crippled hands becoming normal. One person they interviewed who had gone to the centre in a wheel chair completed the Boston Marathon the following year.  They showed the people in the cryogenic tanks wearing only furry mittens , slippers and undies. They couldn’t touch the sides of the tank because the skin would stick to it.

It was after watching that I decided that I should have cold showers (in the absence of a cryogenic tank) and have had one every day since.

It was 1985. My wife, Peta, had gone out early and I was looking after our daughter Kristie. She was about 14 months old at the time. I needed to have a shower.  I rolled her high chair into the bathroom and gave her a plastic book, toast and a drinking cup. I had a shower as usual and for the first time, at the end of the shower  I turned the cold on full and the hot off completely. It was May I think. I can tell you with certainty it was really cold. I was bouncing and jumping and shivering for about a minute under the water. I was oblivious to the fact there was a little 14 month old who thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She was roaring with laughter in her high chair.

I highly recommend daily coldies. Maybe May isn’t the best month to start!

Do you have dry barnacled spots, crusty flaky skin or skin blemishes? Have you heard about skin brushing? It’s one of the best ways I have seen for keeping your skin nice. The brush needs to be a vegetable fibre brush not nylon or anything synthetic. The one I use has a detachable head so you can reach down your back and not poke yourself with the end of it when it’s at close range. Use it all over your body (not the face). It stimulates your blood circulation right out to the periphery of the skin. It removes dead skin cells and refreshes your skin up. It minimises and removes blemishes. Do it dry, all over your body just before a shower.

The old naturopaths always recommended them for kidney problems. The skin handles about as much fluid in the course of a day as one kidney (half the amount you urinate). If the skin becomes blocked it throws the load back on to the kidneys and they have to work harder. It is also recommended for high blood pressure sufferers. Because the capillaries in the periphery of the body are the furthest from the heart, the theory is the heart has to work much harder to get the blood there. If you stimulate the skin with a vegetable fibre brush you open the capillaries taking the pressure off the heart so it doesn’t have to work as hard.

A fair amount of emphasis is placed on skin brushing towards the heart. I’m not sure if this makes a lot of difference but it doesn’t hurt to do it that way.

I have been using  dry skin brushing on and off for years and recommend it highly. It makes the skin so much clearer, it is also claimed that it benefits cellulite and stretch marks, a word of warning though; don’t use one on broken or diseased skin.