Leasha MacLennan isn鈥檛 sure how the idea came to her, but she knew it spoke to her: microdosing hypothermia means that every day, MacLennan dunks herself in a body of water, no matter what the temperature is and embraces the cold that comes with it.
鈥淚 live literally a minute walk from the Oyster River and I had a friend visiting from Cultus Lake and she said 鈥極h my god, if I lived here, I would take advantage of this every day,鈥� and something just clicked in my head that went, I鈥檝e lived in this really beautiful space for six years and not taken advantage of it.鈥�
The day after her friend left, MacLennan vowed to force herself into the Oyster River. On her first dip, she went into the water as deep as her knees.
Now, more than 1,300 days later, MacLennan continues to push herself every day into the uncomfortable that comes with microdosing hypothermia. The self-employed barber of Black Creek Barbers, records every dip, not just the milestone ones.
鈥淚 record them for my own memory and I like to dabble with photography so sometimes I鈥檒l take a still from my videos and edit them into really cool pictures.鈥�
While she doesn鈥檛 do big celebrations, she counts off mental check marks for each day she completes a dip. Of course, she did recognize the larger milestones.
鈥淚 like to remember each year, when I was still in the hundreds, every 100 then the especially big ones like 500 and then 1,000 was really cool.鈥�
As for the bitter temperatures MacLennan has faced in chasing the happiness that comes from these dips, she has hit -1C in moving water. She has dipped in water as low as -6C with a bit of help thanks to Island Saunas.
鈥淚t is set up like a refrigeration kind of thing, everything is water and it makes it colder, so what happens is that we can actually get those sub-zero temperatures without it hardening and freezing over,鈥� shared MacLennan.
鈥淚 actually get nerdy about it. I record the temperatures of every single [dip] too.鈥�
MacLennan has advice for anyone who is thinking of trying the dips out.
鈥淪ome of my biggest tips are to not do it on a cold day or a windy day. Start in the ocean because that is the warmest thing in the winter and always wear something on your feet. That is usually the hardest part for most people, getting their feet used to it,鈥� she explained and added that she finds happiness in the water and has found that the dips have helped with her seasonal depression.
鈥淲ater (and) swimming are my happy places, so if I鈥檓 not able to get into the water enough, I get really depressed in the winter.鈥�
