I dare you to take cold showers | Le n Orlandianyi | TEDxStGilgenInternationalSchool: Full Transcript

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It's the fall of 2018. 16-year - old me is new to this school and he's having the time of his life. You see, that's because at that time he had all he ever asked for. An amazing circle of friends, new teachers that cared and listened, a new mountain bike, and most importantly, he had a chance to prove himself. That was the most important thing because 16-year - old me had the dream of success engraved into his mind and he had no intention of letting it go. Coming to this school was the start of the chase after that dream and in the beginning I was CATCHING IT WITH ACADEMIC and fitness levels that I never thought in my capability. 4 months later, yep, I hit rock bottom. The lowest point mentally, physically, and emotionally that I had ever been at. Although I had all these dreams, my motivation to push towards them was somehow short-lived. I found myself less and less able to cope with life and I soon went from being seen in the gym to being found in bed, from being satisfied to frustrated, from being organized to clueless, from getting up 20 minutes earlier every morning. Depressing this snooze button four times. And all because I had one major flaw. Comfort. Before I came to this school, I was rarely motivated to push outside of my comfort zone and so I didn't. My dreams stayed dreams and my life stood still. In other words, I talked the talk but wasn't ready to walk the walk. But that didn't and I was aware of this tendency of mine.

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tendency of mine. But I didn't think that that would matter because by coming to this school I thought I was finally saying goodbye to comfort and hello to success. And although I was reaping the rich fruits of accomplishment, I felt terrible. I was confused and frustrated as to where I had gone wrong, but because I knew that it couldn't go on like this, after the holidays, I stopped trying. And a little while later, I stopped caring, too. And so I sunk deeper and deeper into a self-destructive vortex that left me dazzled, dejected, and directionless for months. There seemed no way out. Chasing my dreams and pushing my limits had brought me into the situation. But now I was doing so badly that I couldn't work my way out of it. So I settled for a passive state. I was clueless. I really was. The way out though came another 5 months later. You see, things in school started to light up. Spring was around the corner and after the final exams, the pressure put on me by school decreased. You see, it was in this time of reduced workload that I found myself re-emerging out of my passive state. I was finally motivated again. Suddenly I was able to push my boundaries. I even started taking cold showers. The reason why I was doing that was because I was on YouTube one day as one does and I found a video that outlined how getting out of your comfort zone every single day by taking a cold shower increased your resilience and trained your mind. Half a year of cold showers later, some questions popped into my mind. How are my two attempts at getting out of my comfort zone any different? How come now I'm flourishing whereas back then I crashed? The answer to that to those questions came a couple of Google searches later. Hormesis.

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Hormesis. True to Friedrich Nietzsche's quote, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Hormesis is a process in which small doses of a stressor or toxin can actually have a net positive outcome on your body. This is because when you're exposed to this toxin or stressor, our bodies get damaged, but then they rebuild themselves a little stronger. An example of this that we all know is exercise. Exercise is in in simplified terms you stressing your body's systems and damaging your muscles. When these recover though, they are rebuilt The dose matters. We all know that sitting on your couch all day is unhealthy, but so is doing 2 hours of CrossFit after successfully running a marathon. That sweet spot right in between is where we grow. To most efficiently use hormesis to your advantage, you will want to reapply the stressor in the phase of supercompensation. This is where your body has been rebuilt a little stronger. If you don't, your body will return to baseline levels and all that pain and suffering that you've gone through sort of useless. Now, that sweet spot applies for other stressors and toxins as well such as heat exposure, fasting, sun exposure, and yes, I know, alcohol. But before you all run to your parents or you hear how you need to drink alcohol because it improves your cardiovascular system and prevents stroke, I'm going to go ahead and ruin the fun by telling you that the positive results found in that study were heavily exaggerated. Now, the most common form of stress that us as humans living in a developed country face every day is mental stress. Having to perform consistently and meeting deadlines every single day is something we all experience. So, in general, mental stress isn't anything bad. As a matter of fact, you can grow from it. It's a form of hormesis. Putting your mind and body in stressful new situations and learning new things actually makes it adapt by forming new neural pathways and synapses. Unfortunately though, most of us experience mental stress at

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most of us experience mental stress at levels that are way beyond the sweet spot. And so instead of flourishing, we decay into a mental and physical state that is crippled and damaged. Does that sound familiar? Well, it sure did to me because when I made this connection, I finally realized how now I was doing so well, but a year ago I wasn't. You see, at the start of that school year in 2018, I threw myself way beyond the healthy level of stress and discomfort. And when my body and mind gave in to recover, they couldn't. Because the school system doesn't care if you need to recover. Deadlines need to be met and exams need to be written. It was only after those exams were written that I was able to recover and I was again capable of testing my boundaries. Thinking about what that meant, I formulated some important opinions. You see, I think that any employment or especially educational system should consider the optimal stress mechanism when designing workloads. And if it isn't for the person that it is given to, then for the system itself because at optimal stress humans function most efficiently. I say especially educational systems because those are supposed to prepare the youth for their future. But if they come out of the system damaged and crippled by stress, not even knowing that you can grow from it, what have we really prepared them for? If it is up to us to prepare ourselves, how can we do so? Turns out that the easiest and best way that any of you can prepare yourselves for stress and discomfort in your future is the scariest thing in the world, like ever, a cold shower. Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I know they suck, but that's sort of the point. You see, your body only has a hormetic response to things that stress it. Here's what a cold shower does for you. The cold shock that you experience when you first come in contact with the cold

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you first come in contact with the cold stimulates your sympathetic nervous system, which in turn activates the fight or flight response in your body. This increases your heart rate and elevates your oxygen intake, which will pull you right out of any fatigue you might have been feeling at the time. Now, does anybody know that incompetent and drowsy state and feeling that you wake up with? It's called sleep inertia. Quick show of hands, how many of you have carried that feeling into the school day or work day? Yeah, a lot of you, right? Well, that is worse, sleep inertia can last for up to 4 hours. As a student, I know that sucks because any lessons that I have to attend in those 4 hours are a complete waste of time. A simple 2-minute cold rinse can prevent 4 hours of unproductive and meaningless existence. Now, a cold shower also strengthens your immune system, has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. Now, for anybody of those thinking, "Man, but I just really don't like the cold." Fair point, but listen up. Cold showers increase and stimulate brown adipose tissue generation. BAT, which is short for that, is one of the two types of fat. There's white fat, which is the one we usually connote negatively, and there's brown fat. Brown fat is an active metabolizer. This means it actively burns calories. And the point of that is to generate heat in a way that is different to shivering. So actually, cold showers make you feel less cold. Yeah. But not only do cold showers put a strain on your body, they put a strain on your mind. Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone by choice will extend your threshold of discomfort to the point where maybe doing that assignment that's really boring isn't that big of a deal anymore. Or finally having to go with that business idea that you've had for a while is easy.

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I've been taking cold showers for 8 months now. But it is only since the start of this school year that I've integrated it into my school day morning routine. The plethora of positive results that I have experienced amazes me to this day. What also amazes me is the journey that I went through. Exactly a year ago today, I was at my lowest point. But today, because of regular and routinized discomfort, I couldn't be doing any better. This journey of mine also taught me one of the most important lessons I've ever learned. Discomfort is the key to growth. And only if you use it responsibly by starting small and gradually growing into it. Anybody in the audience right now, or at home, who recognizes them who recognizes themselves being in a similar position to 16-year - old me, your own journey might just start tomorrow. In fact, it might start right in the morning when you wake up. Because when you walk into that bathroom of yours, you get in the shower, you can make the choice to grow. And just like me, none of you will ever look back. Thank you very much.