Every morning Jelle Rogiers from Veldwezelt in Lanaken (Limburg) takes an ice bath in his garden. While most people are longing for summer Jelle enjoyed the freezing temperatures during the recent cold snap. “I didn’t need to use my deepfreeze to make ice for my daily ice bath” he explains.
“Usually I get up in the mornings, feed the dog, put on my swimming trunks and fill my bath in the garden with ice from the deepfreeze”.
This isn't the everyday ritual in most parts of Flanders.
“In the autumn I really look forward to colder days. In the summer it’s difficult to keep icy water freezing, but with lower temperatures I don’t really need my deepfreeze. I’ve got a barrel that collects rain water. I just need to break the ice and get in” Jelle tells VRT.
“In the summer people switch on the air conditioning the minute they start feeling the heat. In the winter we don four layers of clothing and we’re only really happy when we are indoors in a heated environment. Our bodies no longer know how to balance body temperature. To relearn this we need to exit our comfort zone. After a while your body is once again able to deal with hotter and colder temperatures” explains Jelle, who after his early morning ice bath sets to work in his bicycle shop.
Jelle’s ambition to challenge his body isn’t limited to ice baths, but also includes his meals: “I don’t only seek extremes of heat and cold, but also subject my body to hunger and thirst. I engage in interrupted fasting meaning I don’t consume food or drink for certain periods”.
There’s a term for challenging your body or exposing it to stress situations. It’s called “intermittent living”. Jelle believes that intermittent living benefits his body: “I haven’t been ill for two and a half years. So I think I can say it benefits my health”.