Ice Swimming

Why is a use by date crucial for health?

The Thrill of perishability

What is good about the expiration date?

As with much of what can be found on this blog, this idea turned up in an audio book I was listening to more than a year after buying it on Audible. The book is called Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.

Ferriss is a proponent of the practice of cold water immersion and writes about this in numerous publications. What caught my attention today was the interview Ferriss did with BJ Miller

Dr. Miller is a shockingly fascinating person; A triple amputee, MD, palliative care designer and a hospice design expert who survived life threatening burns from electrocution as a young person. His explanation of how a snowball profoundly affected him during his tenure in a burn unit is amazing and makes you think about how, as BJ puts it.. “We are feeling machines”, capable of intense experience. Each moment we feel profound sensations. Each instant involves change and what he calls “perishability”. His explanation makes you think about the fleetingness of existence.

Last week I watched a cuttlefish at the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota and it was a one of the most awe inspiring experiences I’ve had in a while. I realize that this might seem shallow: (no pun intended) the idea of staring at at a fish in a container may not seem appealing, and I doubt it was as good an experience for the imprisoned fish. For me it was mesmerizing. This creature was visibly flickering with life, shining with different colors and changing patterns. When I blinked, upon reopening my eyes, a different being appeared. It was like looking at a thought, as though viewing a functional MRI or a lightning storm in fast forward. I’m not a marine biologist, and I have no clue what the cuttlefish was up to. Was it just working to blend in to the tank, communicating with the other fish in tank, or was it expressing another kind of message? For me it was a profound statement of the perishability of moments, the flow of an instant into the next one. The impermanence of existence. The connections lead me back to ice swimming and the change that floods (pun also not intended) your senses when you descend into a cold plunge. If people changed in outward appearance like the cuttlefish, I’m guessing they would produce a dramatic glow when emerging from the cold.