How to Use Ice Therapy & Breathwork to Reduce Your Body's Stress Response

Since summer is here and temperatures are on the rise, it is the perfect opportunity to discuss how to use ice therapy and breathwork to reduce your body's stress response. These tools are particularly effective for managing anxiety and panic attacks. While it won't address the root cause of your anxiety, these ice therapy and breathwork can help in a pinch to minimize the symptoms and reduce your body's physiological stress response.

Please be warned, if you are experiencing health conditions such as cardiovascular or vasovagul disorders first seek the professional medical guidance of your primary physician!

Why Ice Therapy is Effective

When you experience stress or anxiety, your body activates a sympathetic response (aka a stress response) which causes your heart rate to accelerate and your muscles to contract. Ice therapy works to counteract this effect, as the sharp drop in our body temperature decreases your heart rate. As your heart rate slows down, your heart rate variability increases.

Your heart rate variability is the change in intervals between your individual heart beats.

As we inhale, our heart rate increases, and as we exhale it decreases. When we are calm and at rest, there is a balance of our heart rate rising and falling. However, when we are experiencing anxiety, we inhale at a faster rate than we exhale, causing the rapid increase in our heart rate. So in essence, our heart rate variability showcases the amount of stress our nervous system is experiencing. When we submit ourselves to cold temperatures, our body responds by reducing our inhales and extending our exhale. Think about when you step outside on a cold winter day: the freezing temperatures cause you to let out a wind of air as your body acclimates.

By creating a practice of pairing ice therapy with breathing techniques that prioritize shorter inhales and extended exhales, we counter the body's physiological stress response and restore balance with our heart rate variability!

The extreme sensory stimulation can also help to break the dissociative effect that accompanies high stress states, such as anxiety/panic attacks. It distracts you from your intense emotions and brings your focus onto something physical and neutral. This allows you to re-enter the present and re-evaluate your response. The stimulation gives you just enough space from the emotion to create a plan to utilize other self-soothing stress management exercises, such as breathwork meditation, journaling, or low impact exercises like yoga and walking.

How to Utilize Ice Therapy & Breathwork

To effectively utilize ice therapy and breathwork, you can take an ice bath for 10-15 minutes or go to your local cyrotherapy chamber. If those options are not available, take an ice pack and hold it to either your temples, wrist, or the base of your neck. These are high points of circulation, so they'll do well to slow down your heart rate. As you are icing practice the relaxing breath technique. Inhale through your nose, into your belly/diaphragm for two seconds. Then, without pausing exhale slowly through pursed lips (like you're blowing through a straw) for four seconds. Hold the ice and repeat the relaxing breath technique for about 10-15 minutes. If you need further relief, rotate the area that you are icing.

Please be warned: Do not hold the ice directly on the skin & on the same area for longer than 10-15 minutes as this can cause damage to your skin and tissues. If your skin is particularly sensitive, place the ice within a napkin or towel and rotate it as often as needed. Once the skin has warmed back up it is safe to reapply. If you choose to do a full submersion such as an ice bath or cyrotherapy, do not exceed more than once a day.

Ice therapy is a great wellness practice that helps your body reduce current stress and become more resilient to future stress. The effects of which become heightened when you pair it with the proper breathwork techniques to help withstand the sharp temperature change. It allows you to enter a meditative state that carries forward for hours through-out the day. Try it for yourself and let us know how it works for you!