'Cold therapy': How an ice bath or cold shower can relieve your stress levels in just minutes

We all know that exercise, diet and sleep are keys to a long, healthy life, but there is a fourth pillar of health we should be equally as aware of: stress.

On Do You Want To Live Forever? The Block stars and sisters Eliza and Liberty underwent tests which revealed Liberty had a very high stress level – and that was starting to impact her memory recall.

Do You Want To Live Forever? airs Mondays at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.

Medical expert Dr Nick Coatsworth said "cold therapy" was a great way to relieve stress.

"The idea is that putting our body under short, controlled stress gets endorphins pumping, improves our mental health as well as reducing inflammation," he said.

It caused a strong activation of our sympathetic nervous system, which controls our "fight or flight" response. Cold therapy was "bio hacking" our bodies "natural response to stress to creative benefits during your day".

EPISODE 2 RECAP: Tracy Grimshaw meets a world famous 'biohacker' and Duncan Armstrong gets a wake-up call

To try it out, Eliza and Liberty visited a wellness centre for an ice bath.

Although Eliza struggled with the task – which you can watch in the video at the top of this article – it clearly helped stressed out Liberty, who immediately settled into the zone despite the uncomfortably cold water.

After getting out, Liberty said she felt energised, fresh and "like [she] could jump around".

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If you also struggle with stress, you don't have to visit a wellness clinic to get the same benefits.

Dr Nick said you can do it at home by using ice cubes to lower the temperature of a bath to 15 degrees Celsius. Or, to make things even easier, a daily three-minute cold shower "could add years to your life", he explained.

During Episode 2, Dr Nick also underwent cryotherapy in a cryo chamber, which exposed him to temperatures up to -140 degrees.

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His exposed skin felt pain while in the chamber but after getting out, he said he felt "exhilarated". See whether he'd be willing to do it again in the video below:

Do You Want To Live Forever? airs Mondays at 7.30pm on Channel 9 and 9Now.

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