They all use the benefits of cold showers to take their lives to the next level.

Taking a cold shower every day has so many benefits. It’s the reason so many athletes and top performers use ice baths, cryo chambers, and cold plunges.

I hadn’t learned much about them until my mentor Benjamin Hardy (the #1 writer on Medium) suggested watching a Wim Hof video. If you don’t know, Wim “The Iceman” Hof popularized cold showers thanks to his incredible accomplishments in extremely cold situations.

Outside of being able to calm your breathing and force your mind to accept the cold, there are nearly endless benefits of taking cold showers. Here are some of the biggest reasons to start applying cold therapy to your daily routine.

7 Astonishing Benefits of Cold Showers

1. Improves Immunity

Want to take less sick days at the office? If your immunity is struggling, cold showers might be the answer.

An English study showed that regular cold showers trigger an increase in the metabolic speed rate and the number of white blood cells in the body. The two combined will help your body naturally fight diseases.

Your immune system will release virus-fighting white blood cells that will help you get sick less frequently. Cold showers can also increase your overall blood circulation throughout your body.

As Liam Neeson said about cold showers, “Standing under freezing cold showers every morning, — I did that. I got up to seven minutes most mornings and it actually works. It immunizes your body and your body starts getting used to the cold. It really works.”  

2. Promotes Fat Loss

Another huge cold shower benefit is that they actually promote fat loss.

There are two kinds of fat in your body: white fat and brown fat. White fat is the bad one and brown fat is the good one.

When you take cold showers, brown fat is activated due to extreme cold and starts to burn calories to keep you warm.  The increased activity of the “good fat” actually burns calories to keep the body warm.

Research has shown that cold temperatures can actually boost brown fat by 15 times higher than the normal amount! If you’re trying to lose a few pounds or need to jolt your system, cold showers might be more powerful than an energy drink or fat burner pill.

3. Promotes Faster Muscle Recovery & Better Circulation

Athletes have known about the benefits of cold showers and ice baths for years. It’s not uncommon to see football, soccer and basketball stars taking painstakingly cold ice baths following rigorous practice and games.

In fact, a 2009 study showed that an ice bath after intense training improves circulation and helps remove some lactic acid in the body. This can help you speed up the body’s recovery and heal faster than ever before.

It’s the same reason that ice brings down inflammation when you bruise or tear a muscle. By bringing the temperature of an area of the body down, you naturally speed up recovery.

Not to mention, along with faster recovery, cold water therapy helps improve circulation. Improved circulation means better overall cardiovascular health which helps if you’re training for endurance events.   

4. Promotes Resilience

Another scientific study showed that cold showers can help develop a nervous system that is resilient to stress. Who doesn’t want that?

The effort of taking a cold shower alone serves as a small form of oxidative stress. Remember, life gets stressful so it’s a good idea to train your body to prepare for stress in advance.

Not to mention, by getting yourself to take a cold shower or jump in a cold plunge, you’re getting out of your comfort zone. By breaking your routine and forcing yourself to do something you don’t like, even if it’s a couple of minutes, will help make things easier.

If you want to reach new levels of success in business, life or health, it’s not going to be easy. But cold showers can help train your mind and body to cope with new challenges and become resilient when things get tough.

5. Enhances Skin and Hair

As you can tell, there are so many benefits to cold showers but they might also make you look better as well. Cold showers are shown to have positive benefits to both your hair and skin.

If you’re struggling with acne or other skin issues, cold showers might help. While hot water dries out your skin, cold water actually tightens it. This prevents your skin from getting clogged.

Lastly, cold showers can also help your scalp and hair as well.  

6. Lowers Chances of Depression

Want to battle depression naturally? Besides intermittent fasting and constant exercise, cold showers can also be added into the equation.

Your heart rate will also increase, resulting in a rush of blood through your body that will help you get energized for the day. World class entrepreneur Ed Mylett said that he either takes a cold shower, go for a walk in the cold or splashes cold water in his face daily to help energize him each day.

7. More Health Benefits

Here are three other benefits that show the power of cold showers.

Increases Testosterone Levels

Want to increase testosterone naturally? Besides eating low-carb with high fats and using interval training, cold showers can also help!

Improves Fertility

Cold showers have also been found to boost sperm count and increase fertility in healthy males. Researchers said that it could also reverse the effects of hot baths as they have been considered to lower sperm count.

Helps You Sleep Better at Night

Tim Ferris best-seller, The Four Hour Body said, “A 10-minute ice bath could help people get incredible sleep at night.” The book states that “Taking a cold shower gives elephant tranquilizer-like effect that will put you straight to bed.”

Final Thoughts

So how should you get started with cold showers to take advantage of all these health benefits? Slow and steady!

The brain doesn’t like drastic changes in your life as it views them as a threat. Instead of trying to do 10-minute ice cold showers, take your normal shower first. Then, in the end, finish with a 1 or 2-minute cold shower.

As you get more adjusted to it, increase your time or take an entirely cold shower. It’s a great way to start the day, revitalize your body, and set yourself up for success.

The post The 7 Astonishing Benefits of Cold Showers Revealed appeared first on Fearless Motivation - Motivational Videos & Music.

Speaker: Wim Hof
Interview: Tom Bilyeu
Music: Fearless Motivation Instrumentals

Transcript – Wim Hof: Do This and You Will Take Control of Your Mind, Body and Emotions!

Wim: I was exposed to cold water, and just by a thought I was able to make the skin temperature not going down while I was exposed to cold water on my skin, ice water.

Tom: Your skin temperature didn’t go down?

Wim: Yes. Normally it goes down, that is what everybody thinks, isn’t it? And yes, 74 people before me, they did it and they saw all the same graphics. It goes down. And then I did it, I didn’t do anything. Why? Because I am in command of my breath and with that I become in command of my alchemy. And I’m able then to send and to manipulate any part of my body.

Tom: Do you feel the pain and divorce yourself from the suffering? Or do you literally not feel any discomfort?

Wim: You followed the breath and thus the hormonal system, the endocrine system, which we have shown in scientific research is really active within your command. With that comes the adrenaline, the epinephrine, the opioids and the canavanoids.
They are very strong.

Tom: I have a really specific… they’re really strong painkillers, is what you’re saying, right?

Wim: Yes, yes.

Tom: So that’s interesting. So you’re saying you’re actually killing the pain by tapping into that system because you’ve kicked off all this neuropharmacology bases?

Wim: Yes. These breathing techniques I’ve learned to do in extreme cold. Very soon, I was able to stay and prolong my time in ice water feeling great.

Tom: But is the breath just about oxygenating the tissues?

Wim: Oxy- uh, oxygenating uh, to go pass the lymphatic nodes uh, which normally inhibits the, the oxygen to go deeper. Now we found a way to go pass these nodes into the lymphatic system of your body and making you able to alkalize your blood within a couple of minutes. And with that, when the blood is the right pH degree, then suddenly the neurology of the mind, which is like electricity is able to run through.

If you go in to the ice, you feel, the focus will be on your feeling. How to get this feeling into adaptation and to overcome whatever is coming. The cold has been my teacher. I just follow the teacher, the feeling and learned to let go.

Wim: Intuitively I felt I wanna do this. I did yoga, I did kung fu, I did … all, all kinds of things and, and… great. But, the cold is really merciless but righteous. And I was ready to go in, I felt intuitively, I wanna go in because that’s got something, I don’t know what it is. I went in and I felt it. The connection was there, beyond any words and that’s what I was looking for. This tapping into deeper part of the brain, feeling pure energy, feeling power. Innate capacitated power we have to deal with that. I was looking for that.

Wim: And finally, I began to realize but so in the mind. Oh yes. So learning to let go in the right way following your breath. Your breath is able to prime the body. And then your mind, the neurology of the mind, if I’m able to make my skin temperature not going down while being exposed to ice cold water, skin temperature, that’s power. And that power is the same power we can learn to embrace and awaken uh, uh, in which we are able to tackle any stressor in the world. Any stressor emotionally and physically. And mentally. Whatever you come up, we are built to be able to oppose that, to get through and to learn and not to be afraid, ’cause we have the power of the mind.

Tom: So something that I didn’t expect when I started impact theory is the number of people that stopped me, the number of people that write to me and tell me that they’re contemplating suicide.

Wim: We got so many people who don’t commit suicide because they found this..

Nobody wants not to live but they don’t know how to live.

Wim: And this, they’re reactivate, uh, resets their body to the way nature meant it to be. And that is to be happy, strong, and healthy.

Tom: Yeah. Talk to me about your wife and how-

Wim: This is the way I started. My wife jumped from a eight story down in ’95, four children had. No money, just there with four children. My children made me survive and nature healed me and it was the cold. Because in the cold you shut up and all this turmoil, the emotional confusion, the broken heart is all physical, it’s all real. The cold is able to shut it up, shut it down and survive. And with that I came slowly but surely in control over my emotions.

Wim: Now I was powerless then with my wife was uh, schizophrenic and psychos that put all kinds of pills in, injections. Didn’t work whatsoever. There was powerless. But now, I’m empowered.

Tom: So the, the sort of general root cause, ’cause you’ve talked about being able to alleviate symptoms of arthritis, even thrown in cancer, uh, because to you the root cause of all that is inflammation.

Wim: Inflammation cause the irregulation on cell level in the DNA, in the genome express. It’s all the same thing. So there’s a mediocre state of our vascular conditioning. Killer number one in our society is cardiovascular related and it’s amazing how simple we can tackle this serial killer, the cardiovascular related diseases. And for that we take cold showers.
Tom: Shock to the system that does it.

Wim: Yes. Hormesis. We do it consciously and with that we connect even with the brain, with the vascular system, all over.

If you do the breathing before you go to sleep, or if you do the cold showers, then you will sleep better. Cold shower a day keeps the doctor away.

That, the way we are schooled is to take on that autoimmune diseases, cancer, depression, and alike, and power uh, gaining power and be insensitive is normal. I think it is sick. And we got to stand up and show through scientific, uh, research, that no speculation, that is it’s nonsense.

Wim: Mindfulness is very much research. And it shows that uh, through mindfulness you are able to activate deeper parts of the brain. They become more alive because simply the blood flow goes to these deeper parts. But what we have seen now in the brain scans, not even seasoned practitioners and mindfulness are able to activate those part you have been activated. And I say, it’s innately capacitated to anybody, but it needs the conscious technique and passing on of that. Not money, but it is there, but it needs to be awaken. It needs to be shown.

Wim: If you always walk to this way to the house because that’s your knowledge, you don’t know the shortcut which was always there.

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If you’re struggling, I understand. Battling negativity is in our DNA as the average person has 70,000 thoughts per day. Of those thoughts, 70% of them are negative!

This isn’t your fault either, it’s your brains survival mechanism. While life isn’t always easy to deal with work, family, relationships and so much else, you can reshape your outlook. You can push back against those negative thoughts. 

To give yourself the best chances to succeed in life, you need to stay positive. Start using the tips to set yourself up for success:

Five Ways to Stay Positive in Life

1. Start Your Day With Positivity

As Robin Sharma said, “If you win the morning, you win the day.” For the most part, how you start your day usually sets the tone for the rest of your day.

This is why it’s crucial to set up a morning routine that builds momentum and confidence every morning. For some of you, this might feel like a struggle to avoid your phone and focus on habits that build positivity. But it’s crucial to start the day with early wins. 

Start your day with inspiring videos, read motivational articles, meditate, read self-help books or listen to podcasts while you’re exercising. The smallest things can make the biggest differences in your mood and positivity.

2. Exercise On a Regular Basis

As you know by now, exercise is crucial for achieving your best life. Not only do you feel good but you’ll look good which can help increase confidence and positivity.

Plus, you’re going to have more mental focus and strength to help fight off some of those pesky negative thoughts.

3. Follow Your Passion   

Are you passionate about your job or business? If you find yourself constantly down and out, it could be your job robbing you of your happiness. Instead, find a way to do something you feel excited about.  

If you can’t just switch careers or start a new business there are other options as well. Start by volunteering for a cause you believe in or sign up for a class to learn something new.  

There are a ton of studies that have shown people feel happier when helping others. As Tony Robbins always says, “The secret to living is giving.”

4. Start a Meditation Practice

Meditation seems to be the new hip and cool thing with apps, classes, and workshops but it’s been around for centuries. Meditation is to your brain like your cell phone charger is to your phone.

Even a few minutes of meditation can have a huge effect on your mind and body. Regular meditators are calmer, have greater self-awareness and have better focus too.

5. Create Positive Environments  

You are a product of your environment so make sure to choose it carefully. Your home and work environment plays a huge role in creating a positive, optimistic outlook on life.

To be able to stay positive it is essential to have influences in your life that support you and lift you up instead of dragging you down. Make sure your friends, family, and environment make it easy to think positive.

If someone is dragging you down, stop hanging out with them. Not only will this remove these toxic people from your life, but it’ll also free up room to meet new, like-minded people.

Remember, it’s the little things that will make a huge difference in changing your mood from negative to positive. Start by making these five simple shifts and watch how much happiness and clarity you receive into your life.

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But as you know, death comes for everyone eventually. If you’re like most people, you accept that and don’t try to do too much research to learn more.

Besides, people know they should exercise more and eat less yet most people are constantly eating fast food and watching Netflix instead of exercising.

But what if there was a way to put your old beliefs aside and learn how to stop yourself from getting older?

The Science of Cells That Never Get Old

So can you really stop aging? Yes and no, according to expert biologist Elizabeth Blackburn. She talks more about it in her epic TED Talk, “The science of cells that never get old.”

The talk gets very in-depth on the science of aging and stress. It’s a bit complicated so here’s a quick summary if you don’t have time for the 20-minute video.

Elizabeth studied the DNA known as chromosomes, specifically telomeres. At the end of the chromosome are known as telomeres.

• In her research, she found that chromosome wear and tear is inevitable in the duplication process of cells. But she found that some cells called Tetrahymena never get old and die like the others.
• She found that stress was the biggest indicator of the shortening of these chromosomes.
• Main point → More stress, equals more destruction of chromosomes which means the quicker you’ll meet the grim reaper.

Again this is very simplified but it shows the power of stress on your body. And most people live in a common state of stress all the time. Even little worries like getting mad at traffic or frustrated with people on social media is a stress.

The key to a long and healthy life is one with less stress. Here’s how you can do it.

Reduce Stress in Your Life

The study found that there most people deal with stress in two ways. The first gets upset, thinks negatively, and sees stress as a threat. The second group of people see a stressful situation as a challenge and actually get energy from it. Instead of getting mad or angry they get energized to find a solution.

To act more like the second group you need to have the right habits and routines to set yourself up for success. Use these tricks to stay prepared for inevitable stressful situations.

• Exercise: Spend at least 30 minutes per day exercising. This will help keep cortisol levels low and stay energized.
• Eat Healthy Foods: High fat, high carb foot will rob you of energy and make it hard for your body to process everything. Try and meal prep to avoid the temptation of cheap and easy to access fast food.
• Disconnect from Social Media: Those social media arguments and political debates aren’t helping your stress and anxiety levels. Minimize social media to minimize unnecessary stress in your life.
• Meditate: Disconnect from the world with meditation.

on a regular basis. I promise you’ll feel better and enjoy the time away from the screens.

Hopefully, this Ted talk will give you the inspiration to start helping you cope with stress better in your life. Remember, more stress equals a quicker demise.

Quit worrying about the small stuff and start the habits that will help you live a long, healthy, and prosperous life.

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But so few people truly live life to the fullest because they don’t have the right habits and rituals for success. This leads to a frustrating and unfilling life for so many.

If your life is starting to go in a direction you don’t want. It’s up to you to take action. No one is coming to save you.

You have to become your own superhero, take control of your life now.

Here’s how you can change your life completely:

1. Feed Your Mind Inspiring Content | How To Change Your Life

The world is filled with negative, clickbait headlines to take advantage of the fear center of your brain. That’s why the old saying, “negative news sells” is 100% true.

How often do you read the news and actually find a positive, uplifting or happy story? Very rarely!

Don’t settle for this kind of garbage content. Instead, utilise positive, uplifting and inspiring resource. Whether it’s motivational videos, positive affirmations or learning lessons from people who have experienced the kind of success you crave.

Feed your mind with inspiration so you can develop the right mindset needed to change your life.

2. Use Your Imagination | How To Change Your Life

The older most people get the less we use our imagination. But when you’re a kid anything is possible with your imagination. Don’t let getting older stop you from using your imagination.

If you can dream it, you can become it. As Jack Canfield said, “A dream wasn’t put in your mind unless you have the capability to fulfill it.”

Use this motto as a way to help you imagine your success before it actually happens. You have to become the person that can fulfill your dreams before it happens.

3. Start Thinking Positively | How To Change Your Life

Your mind is programmed to think more negative than positive thoughts. Studies have shown that 70% or more of all thoughts are negative and around 91% of all thoughts are the same ones as the day before!

You have to become conscious of your thoughts on a regular basis to help you stay positive. Used a mindfulness app or meditation to help you become more aware of your thoughts. Because remember, not all your thoughts are actually your thoughts.

As T Harv Eker said, “Don’t believe a thought you think.” Question your thoughts more and more so you can reprogram yourself. Remember you are not your thoughts, it is possible to develop a more positive and productive mindset.

4. Protect Your Time | How To Change Your Life

If you want to turn your life around, you need to protect your time like your life depends on it. Quit hanging out with people who aren’t making your life better. Stop doing things that doesn’t bring you any long term joy or happiness.

You can always make more money but you can’t make more time. Life goes too quickly so make the most of your time, practice being more organised, start your day early with a plan in place and get rid of the time wasters in your life.

5. Always Keep the Faith | How To Change Your Life

Never forget that other people have achieved massive success from worse circumstances. Never think you can’t achieve greatness as well. There will be enough negative people along the way, don’t become one of them!

Tony Robbins, Oprah Winfrey, and so many others have persevered through difficult times to turn their lives around. So can you! Keep the faith and believe in yourself. Never give up.

Remember, if you want to learn how to change your life completely, you have to start changing your habits and rituals. Start with your mindset as it controls all other parts of your life. All the little things you do every day will stack up and create a huge change when you look back in six months to a year. If you only improve by 1% every day, that’s a 365% increase in one year!

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If so, you’re not alone. So many people worldwide suffer from a lack of motivation and enthusiasm.

Motivation rarely lasts but is necessary to help you get started on your goals. It helps build the momentum to get you to take massive action toward your goals and dreams.

But why does motivation come and go from so many peoples lives in the first place?

5 Reasons You’re Not Motivated and Lack Enthusiasm

I think there are five main reasons people lose motivation and enthusiasm toward their goals.

1. Fear of Failure

Fear of failure is a hard thing for most people to overcome. It robs so many people of ever seeing a goal or project through the finish line.

The sooner you realize that failure is part of the process, the sooner you can start taking action!

2. The Habit of Laziness

Another reason people don’t continue to take action is pure laziness. Having the wrong habits is a top reason that so many people quit too soon.

3. The Habit of Procrastination

Like laziness, procrastination is a habit. The sooner you can fix your little habits, the sooner you will have more motivation on a regular basis.

4. Fear of Judgement From Others

Similar to fear of failure, people don’t want to feel judged by others. But it ’s a bad reason to not go after your hope and dreams.

If you want something great in life, prepare to be judged and learn to quit caring about the opinion of others. All that matters is how you feel about yourself.

5. Lack of Belief

If you don’t believe, if you don’t see it happening, then it probably never will. Self-belief is so important in turning your dreams into reality.

So how do you overcome these five things holding you back?

5 Ways to Get Motivated

1. Create Winning Habits

Remember, how you do anything is how you do everything. If you say you’re going to wake up at 5 am each day but hit snooze until 6  am you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Create winning habits by keeping the promises you make to yourself. Turn off the TV at night, exercise each morning, declutter your house.

All these little things will help you build the habits of success.

2. Change Your Mindset

Achieving greatness is impossible with a loser mindset. If you think your abilities are fixed, you’ll never be able to push past the lazy days. You need to acquire a growth mindset by reading, watching inspirational content, and

3. Start a Morning Routine

You need to make time for your goals. They won’t come to life if you don’t review them on a regular basis. As Ed Mylett said, “Your obsessions become your possessions.”

Spend time each morning obsessing over what you are trying to achieve. This will program your mind to stay focused on the goal and help push through fear and doubt on the bad days.

4. Work on Yourself

To stay motivated, you need to dig deep within yourself and find out what you’re truly made of. Success isn’t going to happen unless you love yourself and know your own strengths and weaknesses.

Get quiet with meditation or journaling to learn about yourself. The more you can use your strengths, the more motivated you’ll stay in life.

5. Take Massive Action

Imperfect action is better than sitting around planning. Go out and fail your way to success. Take massive action, even if it feels awkward or uncomfortable, to start building momentum toward your dreams.

Hopefully, you can learn from these tips and get started today. Quit waiting until tomorrow to turn your dreams into reality.

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One of the reasons intermittent fasting is so effective is because there is simply less time of the day to eat. With intermittent fasting, you only eat 6-8 hours while most people do the opposite by eating 16-18 hours per day. 

Fasting is one of the most ancient healing traditions in human history which has been practiced by virtually every culture and religion on earth.

I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting since the beginning of 2018 and couldn’t be happier with the results.

Here are five ways intermittent fasting can help your mind just as much as your body.

1. Increased Discipline

As,l Jocko Willink said, “Discipline equals freedom.” In any area of life, how disciplined you are, determine how successful you will become.

When you stick to intermittent fasting on a regular basis you are being disciplined by not eating when everyone else is. Some people will scoff when you tell them your plan but it doesn’t matter. As long as you know what you are trying to achieve that’s all that matters.

This discipline to stick to eating during specific hours has poured into my business and fitness routines. Discipline is contagious and fasting can help add some to your life!

Here’s Kerwin Rae talking about how fasting is one of the top 2 life hacks he knows:

2. Better Brain  

Once you get past the first few days of your body adjusting to the new eating schedule you will feel more focused, positive, and optimistic than ever before.

A study from the Society for Neuroscience in 2015, revealed that intermittent fasting offers “enormous implications for brain health.” According to the study, IF stimulates the brain in a number of different ways including the growth of neurons, recovery from brain injuries and enhanced memory performance.  

There is also evidence to show that intermittent fasting might actually improve both cognitive function and quality of life for people living with those conditions already.

3. Health = Wealth

Unfortunately, people spend too much time on wealth while forgetting about their health during the process. But if you want to be truly successful you have to look out for your health.

Intermittent fasting is a commitment to your mind and body.

4. Improves Spiritual Well Being

Fasting has been practiced throughout history by almost every religion in the world. IF can lead to increase spirituality and I’ve found to have more clarity, peace, and focus during fasting times.

Studies have also shown that fasting can help regulate your mood by reducing stress and anxiety. To me, intermittent fasting can lead to feeling more connected with yourself. This can lead to a more positive outlook on how you see the world. 

5. Trust Yourself

How can fasting help increase your confidence?

By making a promise you keep to yourself. Intermittent fasting is a big commitment if you’ve been eating the opposite your whole life but once you switch it becomes second nature.

This commitment, day in and day out, will instill confidence and self respect in yourself.

More confidence equals higher self-esteem and the ability to reach your goals quicker.

Are you ready to try intermittent fasting?

While it may seem like a daunting challenge, fasting is more than doable. Not only can you lose fat and have more energy but you can also gain more clarity on a daily basis.

Whether you can practice intermittent fasting every day or only on certain days, the benefits are endless.

This clarity can lead to more focus, confidence, and ability to push through the hard times to achieve your goals.

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Physical fitness is essential for a healthy lifestyle. Exercise helps muscle growth, the heart, and will keep fat levels within a healthy parameter. But, not a lot of people know that physical fitness has great positive impacts on one’s mental health. Exercising can do amazing things to improve various aspects of one’s cognitive, behavioral, and emotional health. Here are five ways fitness positively impacts mental health.

Stress

Stress can come from many variables. Work, financial insecurities, interpersonal relationship issues, or other aspects of one’s life can make a person feel very stressed. Stress can cause many physical reactions. Muscles can become quite tense leading to pain in various areas like in the neck or shoulder or even the face. Bad stress can also cause headaches and lead to digestive system issues.

What can exercise do? When one exercises, the brain releases numerous chemicals called endorphins. The endorphins will actually relax those tense muscles and ease aspects of the digestive system. Once a person’s muscular and digestive systems feel more relaxed, a person may feel physically better. That physical improvement can feedback loop and improve the emotional health of the individual.

Anxiety

Anxiety is another complex mental state. With anxiety, the intense feeling of unease can stop a person from enjoying day-to-day activities. Relaxing can be a good way to get one’s anxiety issues to calm, but exercising has an incredible way of relieving those symptoms of anxiety. Exercising has a way of helping a person meditate by focusing their tasks on exercising itself. Along with the release of endorphins and proper oxygen and blood blow across the body, exercise helps to bring the body toward a more mindful state. This mindful state decreases anxiety and can help put the person at ease.

Control Addiction

Addiction is a powerful disease. Whether it is drugs or alcohol, one’s mental health is greatly impacted by these addictions. When one exercises, the chemical dopamine is released. Dopamine is a “reward” chemical. This chemical makes a person feel good. This is the same chemical released from various substances that can also cause addictions. After a good workout, the body releases dopamine to make the person feel good. In a way, exercise becomes a therapeutic escape for addicts as the dopamine comes from exercise and not addictive substances.

Increase Productivity

Productivity is a necessity in today’s busy environment. However, many people lack productivity for numerous reasons. However, if a person exercises regularly, the results may be an increase in productivity. This is thanks to the general increase of energy in the long term thanks to exercising. The person may also sleeps better thanks to exercising regularly, which will help them in the day ahead work harder. All of this keeps the mind sharp and ready to tackle the tasks of the day.

Cognition

Cognition is essentially the ability for a person to attain and keep information. When a person is young, cognitive abilities are strong. But, as a person gets older, brain cells begin to deteriorate, causing the level of cognition to decrease. This is especially true in the hippocampus region of the brain. What can exercise do? Exercising releases a ton of chemicals that help brain cells remain strong. In fact, new brain cells are often produced from exercise thanks to the production of the brain protein BDNF. Although exercising can never stop the deterioration already occurring in the brain, such as during Alzheimer’s, exercising can help minimize the deterioration of brain cells over a life time and even boost mental stamina.

Check out this infographic by Fitness19 for more on the relationship between fitness and mental health. 

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All hell broke loose on Thursday when news about Chester Bennington’s suicide came out. On Twitter, people expressed their heartfelt condolences and took a moment to remember his legacy.

Many artists in the music and film industry reflected on their connection with the rockstar and sent love and strength to his wife and six children.

Several fans took to YouTube and Twitter to reveal how a part of them had died with the singer’s death. After all, while the mainstream media was busy making music about the flashy life, it was Bennington who acknowledged the dark – albeit more real – side of life.

Linkin Park’s music ran through the veins of people who find themselves confused, lost, “numb”, or broken at some point in their lives. And Bennington’s voice validated their emotions in the dark night of the soul.

But it will never be the same. Nonetheless, his music will be, reminding us of his amazing contribution to our lives.

So today, we want to honor the great singer by remembering his most memorable quotes:

1. You’re constantly trying to prove yourself, even after you’ve made it.

2. We’d like to think that our music will always be bigger than any one of our individual personalities.

3. We’re shooting for the title of the hardest working band in America. – Chester Bennington

4. When I’m writing, I’m constantly thinking about myself, because it’s the only experience I have to draw on. And I don’t see an exact reflection of myself in every face in the audience, but I know that my songs have validity to them, and that’s why the fans are there.

5. I have been able to tap into all the negative things that can happen to me throughout my life by numbing myself to the pain so to speak and kind of being able to vent it through my music.

6. I don’t like to hold back because that’s how you hurt yourself. – Chester Bennington

7. Well, we promised our fans that we’d put out records faster, and that’s what we’re doing. We figured out a way to condense our cycle, so to speak, by… continuing to write, trying to keep the creative ball rolling as often as possible.

8. I don’t drink. I choose to be sober now. I have drunk over the last six years, but I just don’t want to be that person anymore.

9. You can’t be afraid of people willing to hurt you, cause if you fear life, then you will never live.

10. I’m strong on the outside, not all the way through. I’ve never been perfect, but neither have you. – Chester Bennington

11. It’s the band that really counts and not our egos. Egos probably destroyed more bands than anything else did, and that’s something we want to avoid at all costs. 

12. When life leaves us blind, love keeps us kind.

13. Tattoos exude pain and pleasure at the same time. – Chester Bennington

14. Some kids are so depressed at home and with how people treat them in school that they cut themselves. This happens all over the world – kids who don’t want to kill themselves, but nobody understands how much they hurt, so they cut themselves with razor blades.

15. I always wanted to be a rock star. That was my childhood dream. That’s what I told everybody I was going to be when I grew up.

16. What’s the worst thing I’ve stolen? Probably little pieces of other people’s lives. Where I’ve either wasted their time or hurt them in some way. That’s the worst thing you can steal, the time of other people. You just can’t get that back.

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If you’ve been guilty in the past of judging yourself in many situations, it may mean you’re lacking confidence, self-esteem and self-image.

To overcome this issue and live a greater, richer and more fulfilling life, you must silence your inner critic first.

Here’s a fact that you might already have sensed on some level:

The way we talk to ourselves has a TREMENDOUS impact on the reality we experience.

Those who choose empowering meanings will always live in a greater state of wellbeing, and achieve more than those who don’t.

People who are quite simply okay with who they are and where they’re going, regardless of what that looks like right now tend to enjoy MUCH MORE success and happiness in their lives than people who argue often, criticize themselves, and generally feel BAD about who they are and where they’re at right now.

So here’s the question:

WHY IS THIS?

Why do men and women who are comfortable with themselves tend to do SO MUCH BETTER in all areas of their lives than men and women who judge themselves?

The question is how to silence your inner critic?

Well my theory is simple: feeling bad takes up a HUGE amount of ENERGY.

If you’ve invested a lot of energy in feeling shame, worry, anxiety, stress, and self-criticism, you don’t have much left over for the good things in life.

On the other hand, self-acceptance literally CREATES energy, which can then be put to good use in sensing opportunities, open doors, and good fortune.

This isn’t necessarily a conscious thing, that men and women who ‘feel good’ will work harder at furthering themselves and it’s more that life itself naturally seems to ‘loosen up’ for such people, allowing promising events to gain momentum and windows of opportunity to open wider all on their own.

You CAN change your self-talk.

You CAN silence your ‘Inner Critic’.

And you CAN access the incredible wealth of life-abundance that awaits people who’ve learned to unlock their ‘inner contentment potential’!

Loosen Up and Have More Fun – How to Get Rid and Silence Your Inner Critic

You aren’t going to change anything about your world-view by changing what’s happening ‘in your world’.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have – how many cars, careers, houses, or gold-plated walk-in humidors you have.

Neither does it matter how many relationships you have or with whom they are with.

If you want to KILL your inner critic and unleash your own inner JOY, here’s something you ought to know:

It’s an inside job.

First you change your self-talk and then the world changes to match it.

It’s really quite incredible. (It’s also a lot EASIER than earning a million bucks, buying a mansion, or dating the most beautiful human on the planet!)

Is It Time to ‘Get Freudian’? 

When I talk about ‘changing your self-talk’, I’m not talking about ‘therapy’ or seeing a shrink.

This isn’t about putting your feet up on a leather couch and telling someone with a clipboard about your relationship with your father.

In fact, this is something that DOESN’T INVOLVE ANYBODY ELSE AT ALL.

It’s something that only YOU can do.

It’s about being QUIET ENOUGH that you can hear your inner truth the one that’s been there all along.

So what do you have to do?

Well, it’s actually surprisingly SIMPLE.

And fortunately for you, although changes won’t happen QUICKLY, they will happen EASILY.

The more you struggle, the less ‘effect’ you’ll see in other words, you need to learn how to ‘hurry up and wait’ to ‘take the easy road’ for once (which, contrary to the Puritan work ethic of ‘struggle, struggle, struggle’, can be very beneficial for your character!)

So here’s the deal:

When it comes to ‘inner changes’, it’s less about EFFORT than it is about simply PAYING ATTENTION.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Change What You Want To by Noticing How It Is 

Those of you who’ve read Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now will have at least a passing familiarity with the concept of changing what you don’t like simply by noticing how you feel about the way things are.

And yes, this is a theme that you will come across again and again.

NOTE: we didn’t invent this concept (as a matter of fact, it’s so old and used by so many that I’m not sure who, if anyone, can claim original authorship!) but we do all find it very useful – as will you!

So here’s how it applies to YOU and YOUR LIFE:

Your ‘inner self and inner peace’ doesn’t respond well to criticism and negative judgment calls.

In fact, one thing I’ve noticed is that when you try to make a change that’s based on FEAR or NEGATIVITY, it tends to actually stick that undesirable habit firmly into place! Ironic, I know but that seems to just be how most human beings operate.

Let’s take work as an example.

If someone in the workplace is getting out of line, a good manager will know to correct their behavior – not by castigating them, but actually by COMPLIMENTING THEM on something else they’ve done right.

Everything you need is already inside you.

If you want people to respond to you, you don’t bring up what they’re doing ‘wrong’ unless you REALLY, REALLY NEED TO.

Why?

Because calling attention to a ‘bad characteristic’ or a ‘fault’ or a ‘flaw’ actually causes that undesirable trait to STICK IN PLACE HARDER.

On the other hand, by doling out some praise (in an area where it’s actually deserved), you RAISE that person’s self-esteem and self-pride and the ‘bad habit’ will almost always drop out of sight all on its own.

Why?

Because such a habit is no longer congruent with the ‘competent, valued colleague’ self-image you’ve now helped that person to construct of themselves.

How do I know this?

Because I speak from personal experience, that’s how.

If you focus on the good stuff, and simply NOTICE the ‘bad stuff’ without making a big deal about it, the bad habit will usually melt away all on its own.

It’s simply human nature.

And the exact same principle applies to YOU.

If you criticize, judge, worry, and berate yourself, you’ll simply STICK your undesirable traits in place not to mention, cause a whole lot of unnecessary ANGST for yourself. (And who wants to do that?)

If you want to change your self-talk – and thus, your life – what you need is to give yourself the calm, space, and peace necessary to just BE.

The magic word?

Meditate.

When you meditate, a funny thing starts to happen: criticism no longer has the power to impact you.

Like magic, doubts and insecurities just melt away along with all the characteristics that no longer best serve you anymore. There’s no judging.

No struggling.

No hardship.

Instead, it’s just you and the Infinite under whose gaze all flaws, crinkles, and rough spots naturally smooth away.

You don’t have to DO anything.

All you have to do is sit down and be present.

Here’s What to Do (It’s Easy, Don’t Worry) 

First: there’s NO ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to meditate.

Some people do it lying down in bed.

Some people stand up.

Some people walk around in their neighborhood! Some even use guided meditations.

Newcomers to meditation often inadvertently interrupt themselves during a practice by thinking, ‘Uh-oh … am I doing it right? Why am I still thinking? Aren’t I supposed to be totally ‘empty’ right now?’

Here’s the deal: the ‘myth’ that your brain needs to be silent during meditation is just that:

A MYTH.

Your brain will NEVER stop thinking.

And it’s not your job to try and get it to do so.

Instead, the whole point of meditation is to help you feel peaceful about the way things are.

So thoughts will come and go.

Your task is to simply ALLOW them to do that, without interfering, worrying, or indeed reacting in any way.

(It’s easy but simultaneously somehow harder than it sounds!)

So now that we’ve cleared that up, here’s what you’re going to do: First: sit down in a comfy place.

It doesn’t matter where. You can sit in a chair if you want, on a cushion, whatever. The important thing is that you’re comfy.

(You can lie down, if you like.)

Because your breath is always with you no matter where you are, it makes a pretty handy meditation tool.

All you’re going to do is try to count to ten.

On the out breath, count ‘one’ (silently.)

On the next out breath, count ‘two’. If you become distracted by a thought, that’s OK. Just start again at one.

If you can get to ten, you’re doing well! As your experience grows, try to count to ten again and again.

Don’t worry about whether this sounds ‘effective’ or not.

If your mind is right now throwing up thoughts of, ‘What is she talking about? How is this going to work for me? It sounds boring and not active enough!’

Stop.

Wait.

Disengage from your Inner Critic, and give it a go. Right now. Use the energy created by reading this article. Wherever you are, close your eyes, relax, and start the count.

Don’t worry if you feel nothing at first.

Remember, this is an ONGOING discipline with CUMULATIVE EFFECTS meaning, the more often you do your ten-count, the more benefit you will feel (and the easier it will be!)

Little by little, you’re getting in touch with your inner peacefulness – your true sense of natural relaxation, self-acceptance, and quiet, ever-present JOY.

It’s a powerful thing and an excellent means of ‘loosening up’ your death-grip on reality.

Why would you want to do such a thing?

Because fluidity in life is what permits opportunity to come your way, change to start flowing, and chance to favor you.

So start now. Right now. And in one week, see the positive change and difference in your life already.

I will stop here. I hope you enjoyed reading this article on how to silence your inner critic and if you truly did, please do not forget to share it on your favorite social media.

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