Most people just aren't ready for the stress of modern life. In a survey of 2000 adults for Brass Monkey's "State of Readiness" report, people rated their own capacity at 66% on a typical day, and 88% said feeling ready isn't a given.
Nearly half (47%) feel low on energy three or more days a week. Given the choice, only 22% would rather build their capacity to cope with stress, while 36% would rather avoid it altogether.
What people reach for under pressure is revealing. When stressed, 28% switch on the television and 23% reach for something to eat. Exercise came in at 27%, so two of the three most popular answers involve sitting down. Both treat stress as a mood to be soothed, while the body is dealing with something far more physical.
Stress is something your body does
Stress feels like it's happening in your head, but the response runs through your whole body. Your adrenal glands release adrenaline and cortisol, your heart rate climbs, your breathing quickens, and your liver releases stored glucose so your muscles have fuel to fight or run. Your body can't tell an overdue report from a threat to your life, so it prepares for both in exactly the same way.
Then we sit down in front of the television. The fuel is released and nothing uses it, so the alarm stays on with nowhere to go. That reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what stress is, and it explains why the things that help are physical.
A walk gives working muscles a reason to take up that glucose. A long, slow exhale engages the "rest and recover" side of your nervous system and brings your heart rate back down. Cold water exposure is another tool that can help. .
Cold water is stress you choose
Only 6% of people in the survey said they reach for cold water (it's what report sponsor Brass Monkey sells) under pressure. That's hardly surprising, since lowering yourself into freezing water is an odd way to deal with a bad day. The fact that any of them chose it at all shows how far cold plunges, sea swims and ice baths have moved from the fringes of wellness into ordinary life.
Cold water sets off the whole stress response on purpose, in a dose you control. It's down to the fight-or-flight reaction. Your body instantly releases glucose - the fuel you run on - so that you can survive the situation you've plunged yourself into. It also helps to warm you up. On our members' sensors, that rise often appears within minutes of getting in, frequently before they've eaten anything. Many of them later spot the same shape on a stressful workday.
Researchers call this kind of productive stress "hormesis": a manageable challenge that leaves the system better prepared for the next one. "Dose is the whole game," says Phil Learney, Head of Science at Brass Monkey. "Too little and nothing happens. Too much, and you're not training composure, you're just suffering. Get it right, progress it properly, and the same alarm that spikes on session one is easing off by about session four."
That's resilience in physical terms: the same trigger, a smaller alarm and a faster return to calm. Whether composure learned in cold water carries over into the rest of life is still being tested; Brass Monkey is designing a study with Coventry University to find out.
Photo: Brass Monkey cold plunge at 1Rebel
If you try it, never go in alone. Get in slowly rather than jumping, don't hold your breath on the way in, and keep your head above water. Cold shock puts real strain on the heart, so anyone with a heart condition, high blood pressure or Raynaud's, or who is pregnant, should check with their GP first.
Avoiding stress is rarely an option, because your body will mount the response either way. The only choice is whether you give that response somewhere to go.
If you want to see how your glucose responds to deliberate cold exposure, it's time to put on a Nico sensor.