Are we too comfortable? Will A Little Stress Do Us Good?

Plus: When do you feel old?

Jun 22, 2025

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Discussion:

Do you feel your age? If not, do you feel older or younger than your actual age?

a man standing in a body of water — *Photo by Mika Ruusunen on Unsplash*

Are we too comfortable?

Health articles often tell us that learning to manage stress is essential. We’re led to believe that all stress is bad for us. But that’s not so. Science is discovering that some stress is good for us and we should actively seek it. We live an overly heated lifestyle today, wrapping ourselves up warm at every opportunity. Unless we’re living in extremely straitened circumstances, hunger is something we rarely, if ever, experience.

However, in recent years, science has been finding out that as our bodies are used to the stress caused by experiencing adverse conditions throughout evolution, a short period of it is a good thing. Some physical hardship builds resilience against age-related decline.

Essentially, your body gets better at handling stress through practice. Controlled stress exposure through brief cold showers, saunas, or intermittent fasting triggers damaged cells to start fixing themselves, a process known as autophagy.

Cold Water Therapy

Some research suggests cold water therapy may stimulate the immune system by exposing the body to a mild stressor. One way to achieve this is through cold showers. The shock of the cold water gives a slight boost to the immune system and activates the sympathetic nervous system, which governs the fight-or-flight response in frightening or dangerous situations. A study found that having 30-second cold showers every morning for 60 days could decrease the number of sick days by 30%.

Wild swimming and cold tubs are other ways to experience stress, and both have become very popular in recent years. There’s growing evidence that people who swim outdoors in the winter are more resistant to certain illnesses and infections.

One study has shown that it improves circulation. Another found that just six immersions in cold water produced a physiological effect, which could still be seen over a year later. This, of course, also applies to cold tubs.

If we always choose comfort we never learn the deepest capabilities of our mind or body. Wim Hof

However, there are some risks to immersion in cold water, especially for older people and those with heart conditions. In older adults, cold water applied just to the neck and face area has been shown to improve brain function and has been used to help combat dementia.

Not everyone is supportive of cold water therapy. There have been criticisms of the Wim Hof Method as lacking sufficient evidence to support the benefits. There’s an ongoing debate about the health effects of cold water immersion and little understanding of how it improves diseases.

Evidence for the benefits may be scarce, but that’s not to say they’re not real. So, as mentioned above, the benefits include boosting the immune system, reducing muscle soreness and inflammation, enhancing mental resilience and potentially more restorative sleep. This article explains the risks and considerations to take into account if you are planning on trying it out.

a close up of a sunflower with a sky background — *Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash*

When Do You Feel Old?

At what age do we feel old? Since I feel ageless at fast approaching 78, it’s something I have yet to experience. Two older women who are in the public eye have recently talked about how they feel about age.

Dame Sheila Hancock is a 92 year old British actress who has appeared in theatre, film and television since as long as I can remember. She was interviewed on Katherine Ryan’s YouTube podcast, What’s My Age Again? recently. Her answer:

"Reaching 90 was extraordinary, because right up until then I honestly had never thought I was old.

"I did a film where I climbed a mountain when I was 85, and I didn't think anything of it. I went to the gym and did a bit of extra work, but I never thought of it.

"And then when I was 90, everybody started saying 'do you still drive', 'let me help you up'. They suddenly start treating you as old.”

So, Dame Sheila didn’t feel old, and in fact, probably would say she felt ageless, until 90. I wonder if that changed because people started to treat her as an old person, or was it vice versa?

Baroness Joan Bakewell is an author, playwright, tv presenter and president of Birkbeck College, London, and she’s in her nineties. She was a guest on a radio programme last year where she was asked when she thought she became old. Her answer was similar to that of Dame Sheila’s. She said she didn’t feel old until she reached the age of 90.

So maybe for those of us who feel ageless, 90 is the turning point.