ICE, ICE, MAY BE?
Whether or not you would personally plunge into an ice bath, cold-water therapy is having a moment. From Freeze the Fear, the celebrity endurance programme overseen by ‘Iceman’ Wim Hof; to platforms like TikTok, where thousands film themselves braving the cold, showing the world you can face frigid temperatures is hot right now.
It sounds like a form of torture. If you wince at the idea of lowering yourself into a regular swimming pool, why voluntarily cover yourself in water around the point at which it turns to ice? Well, such behaviour is able to be associated with the word ‘therapy’, because of the purported benefits for the body and perhaps even the soul.
People who talk about the experience do so in an excited tone of voice – like followers of a new religion. Laura Fullerton says that
