Travelling the world on tour may sound like pure rock‘n’roll, but the mental and physical toll it can take on even the fittest of artists is well known. Once upon a time, it was all about continuing the party post-show, but now many artists focus on rest and recovery, in a bid to keep healthy in body and mind for the remainder of their tour dates.
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Harry Styles, who is currently performing on his Love On Tour dates, is one such example. Posting an image of himself, fists clenched while submerged in a bath filled to the brim with ice water, the singer nodded to his post-show recovery routine. Almost tempting after the recent heatwave, submerging yourself in an ice bath is a brilliant way to reduce inflammation, speed up metabolism and achieve mental clarity. Scientists have also found that the body’s stress response is reduced after being submerged in cold water (below 15°C) a few times – therefore, it’s a brilliant wellbeing trick to try to usher calm and relaxation in.
While ice baths have long been used by professional sports people to recover quickly after training or competitions, in recent years they have become ultra popular among celebrities. Everyone from Lady Gaga to Gwyneth Paltrow to Liam Hemsworth and Oprah Winfrey swears by an ice bath, often drawing upon Wim Hof’s (a.k.a. “The Ice Man”) techniques, which combine breath work with cold exposure, when incorporating it into their routines.
Harry Styles is no stranger to cold water. He is known to enjoy a cold water swim, and is often captured by fans taking a dip in icy sea spots, the last of which was Dublin’s Vico Baths in June. Meanwhile, in an interview with Better Homes & Gardens in April, the singer said he swam outdoors daily. “I feel like people who have discovered cold water swimming are just so happy for you that you’ve also found it,” he told journalist Lou Stoppard. “That’s the thing with a swim – it’s the one thing you never regret.”
This story was originally published on British Vogue.