Cool off

Like fragile ice, anger passes away in time. -Ovid

Well in light of the fact that I ran 18 miles yesterday and hurt my knee, I thought it would be good to talk today about cooling off (because I have been sitting on an ice pack on my knee on and off for the last day) as a coping skill.

When we get angry/escalated/emotional, our blood pressure rises and our body temperature typically rises as a result. Many of us sweat when we start to get emotional like that. I am one of those. Others may get warm faces, or get the creeping red neck/face. Continuing to get warm/stay warm or be in a warm setting can contribute to our continued agitation. So from a very logical standpoint, working to cool down will help us to “cool off” or deescalate. This can be in various forms: putting a cool washcloth on the face, drinking a glass of ice water, taking a cold shower, or simply removing ourselves to a cooler environment (step outside in the winter or into the A/C in the summer—or hop in the pool if one is available). There was a young boy that lived at the home I worked at several years ago who could be at any state of agitation and with the assistance of a glass of ice water and a cool washcloth, would be calm within minutes.

According to a study found here, hot temperatures generally produces the following effects: increased heart rate, increased respiration rate, deeper respiration, increased blood circulation rate, slight decrease in heart stroke volume, skin blood vessel dilation, sweating, decrease in thyroid-stimulating hormone and consequent decrease in basal metabolic rate, and increase in galvanic skin response (GSR) and skin conductance.

A NC snow storm--really.  There was no school for 5
days because of this bad boy. Visualizing snow/winter
can help you to cool down!

Think about this from a practical standpoint. Have you ever been outdoors on a HOT day—but not because you were at the beach or pool? Or maybe the A/C went out in the car or in the house? I have various clients that don’t have A/C because they don’t pay their bills. It stays nearly 100 degrees down here for most of the summer, so imagine how irritable these families are. My A/C went out in my car for a day and I was having homicidal ideation, so I can’t imagine how they deal with this regularly. If being that hot makes us agitated, then cooling down would obviously lend itself to being less stressed than when we are hot.

Can you think of a time when temperature contributed to either an escalation or a de-escalation? What “cooling off” method would you prefer to use?

 Hope you enjoy the final day of our weekend!