Free five-minute hack to boost your sex life

Dogged by a low libido, Jana Hocking went looking for ways to boost her sex drive – how she found it again was surprising.

Jana Hocking on how cold water plunges revived her libido. Picture: Instagram

A truly tragic thing happened recently. It’s something you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy: I lost my sex drive. Yes. It’s true. I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Not in a late-night viewing of The Notebook (Oh Noah). Not with my favourite battery-operated device. Not on a date with a ridiculously attractive man. Not even in the depths of a very saucy website.

It was gone. Vamoosh. Non-existent. And I was devastated.

As someone who has always been the proud owner of a high sex drive this conundrum left me perplexed. So perplexed, I booked myself a doctor’s appointment in a last ditched-attempt to get it back.

The doctor with a kind face and a heck load of patience asked me to explain my current lifestyle. Well … I have been enjoying a particularly busy and eventful freelance career. I’ve been going out for probably one-too-many late nights. And my diet … well unless hot chips count as a vegetable (I mean, technically they do) I guess you could say I could do with a good nights sleep and a bowl of nutrition.

She told me exactly that. But here’s the thing … I love my busy day-to-day life. I enjoy a big night out. And I shall never give up the chippies!

Jana Hocking’s libido recently took a hit. Picture: Instagram

But yes, having given the eight hours of sleep thing a go. I will confess it slightly worked. I mean the hot guy at the bar certainly got a side-eye. But did I care to act on it? Not really.

I needed more.

It was then that the Instagram gods looked down on me with pity. They put in my path a neuroscientist, by the name of TJ Power, who released a insta video harping on about the benefit of cold water.

Sure this may sound a tad dull, but what he had to say made me sit up with attention. He revealed that getting into fresh cold water every day for just two-to-five minutes helps clear the mind, increase your dopamine and reduce inflammation in your body.

OK, that all sounds jolly good, but wait till you hear what he said next.

He said that people who take cocaine will experience their dopamine rise by 2.5 times the regular amount, then it peaks at nine minutes, so it peaks really, really quickly, and then it crashes out. Leaving the participant feeling rubbish.

The cold water immersion is the only behaviour scientists have found that matches that exact same dopamine high – but unlike cocaine which only lasts nine minutes, the dopamine boost you experience from cold water immersion lasts for two and a half HOURS!

Oh and the best bit is, the people who partake in cold water immersion and get that strong dopamine hit won’t experience the horrendous crash cocaine users do.

Now, all I was hearing was ‘this could be the surprisingly quick fix to your sex-drive dilemma.’

I called a friend who is quite spiritually woo woo and he raved about the benefits he’s received from it. So, the next morning, on a very cold winter day, I walked to the beach located at the end of my street armed with nothing but swimmers, ugg boots and one of those horrendously ugly but warm beach towel poncho things and prepped myself.

I promised myself that if I just jumped in for a minute or so, I could then run-walk as quick as I could back to my apartment for a warm coffee and hot bath. As I traipsed nervously down my chilly street I repeated the mantra: “Hi Ho Hi Ho, it’s off to get my sex drive back I go.”

I then dumped my towel on the chilly sand, kicked off my ugg boots, and before I could overthink it, ran straight into the ocean. Ooooooft, t was freeeeeezing. But then it was brilliant. You’re going to think I sound slightly delusional, but the high you experience once you adapt to the water temperature is glorious.

I skipped back to my apartment roughly five minutes later feeling chuffed with myself. And then I did it the next morning. And the morning after that. And then … you guess it … the morning after that.

The other crazy side-effect I’ve discovered from this new pumped-up me is that I started looking forward to it. Yep, I crave the instant high and it’s made me want to look after my health a little more.

I’ve begun sleeping better, I have more energy, and with that – voila! – my sex-drive returned.

So listen, I’m not saying it’s the elixir to life, but I needed something drastic to get me back on my game, and who knew the solution was something that doesn’t cost a penny (just a bit of gusto).

Jana Hocking is a columnist and collector of kind-of-boyfriends | @jana_hocking