Ice Bath Harry

The News, Portsmouth

Harry Beattie (33) from Waterlooville, otherwise known as Ice Bath Harry is nearly a year clean from years of active addiction with drugs and alcohol and has taken an ice bath every single day to help his mental health through his recovery. He has also managed to get his son Travis (6) back in his life and has welcomed a daughter called Billie (5 weeks old) with his partner Felicity Ramsey (32).

Transcript

00:00Hi, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your journey?

00:03Yes, I'm Harry, otherwise known as Ice Bath Harry, and I'm 33 from Portsmouth.

00:08I live in Waterlooville, and I'm the guy who takes an ice bath every day.

00:13And, yeah, I am a social media personality now, if you like.

00:20I used to work in double glazing, and found myself getting caught up with drugs and alcohol and addiction.

00:26And, yeah, I've been through hell and back, I think, it's fair to say.

00:33And, yeah, I've kind of turned my life around. I'm not in double glazing anymore.

00:37I work in the wellness space, and, yeah, I'm helping people with mental health.

00:41And taking an ice bath every day has really helped doing that.

00:45So, can you explain to me what active addiction is?

00:48Yes, active addiction is taking drugs and alcohol or any form of substance,

00:54any mood-altering, mind-changing substance, to try to change the way you feel

00:57because you're not happy with how you feel inside.

01:01I think a lot of it comes down to self-worth.

01:04And if you loved yourself, why would you treat yourself the way you treat yourself?

01:06You wouldn't.

01:07And, well, this is for me, in my experience.

01:10I was using drugs and alcohol to try to change the way I felt.

01:13And when I put the drugs and alcohol down, I looked at my own mental health

01:17and realised it wasn't as bad as I thought it was

01:20because the drugs were kind of covering the mental health issues that I had.

01:23It was making it worse.

01:25And, yeah, learning to love myself over the last 11 months

01:28has kind of brought me beautiful things.

01:31And I don't feel the need to use drugs and alcohol anymore

01:34to try to change the way I feel

01:35because I'm learning to be happy with who I am now.

01:40So, tell me about the ice baths

01:42and what made you start taking the ice baths?

01:44So, when you take drugs, as long as I did,

01:48your dopamine receptors in your brain that fire off happy hormones,

01:53they get blocked.

01:54And I was looking for ways to try to replicate dopamine

01:57and other ways to sort of make me feel happy.

02:00And I'd read or heard somewhere that ice baths, cold water exposure,

02:04gives you the same dopamine fix that a line of cocaine or a line of ketamine,

02:10it gives off the same dopamine fix that that does

02:12but it lasts four or five times as long.

02:15And, yeah, what the ice bath does

02:17is it replicates the hormones that I'm lacking

02:19due to prolonged drug abuse.

02:21And, yeah, I've done it every day for 337 days.

02:26We're closing in on a year now

02:27and I feel great every time I do it.

02:28And, yeah, that's kind of like what I'm known for now,

02:30Ice Bath Harry.

02:32So, tell me what the future holds for you.

02:35That is a good question.

02:37I don't know where I'm going to go

02:38after I get to a year clean.

02:40I'm probably going to take another ice bath.

02:43I'd like to get into going into rehabs with ice baths maybe

02:46or going into schools, you know,

02:49talking to young people about the dangers of addiction

02:51and drug abuse and where it can lead.

02:54Yeah, I'd like to set up an ice bath brand possibly.

02:56I've got loads of different options.

02:58Public speaking.

02:59I'm booked in for an event in September in Portsmouth

03:01talking about suicide prevention.

03:03It's called Let's Get Talking About Suicide,

03:05which I'm really excited about.

03:06And, yeah, I just want to promote cold water exposure

03:07and show people what's helped me

03:10in the hope that it helps them.

03:26Let's get it!

03:27Let's get it!

03:28Let's get it!

03:29Let's get it!

03:30Let's get it!

03:31Let's get it!

03:32Let's get it!

03:33Let's get it!

03:34Let's get it!

03:35Let's get it!

03:36Let's get it!

03:37Let's get it!

03:38Let's get it!

03:39Let's get it!

03:40Let's get it!

03:41Let's get it!

03:42Let's get it!

03:43Let's get it!

03:44Let's get it!

03:45Let's get it!

03:46Let's get it!

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