WWhen Dr. Michael Mosley passed away in June, while on holiday in Greece, he was working on Just One Thing, a television version of his hugely popular BBC podcast/radio series of the same name, which has been running since 2021. He filmed enough for just two episodes, and this look at the benefits of cold showers is the first. Each episode of the podcast was a little piece of simplicity. Typically, Mosley took less than 15 minutes to explore the idea that one simple change in habits could improve your health. From doing yoga to eating nuts, from dancing to spotting (a small amount of) dark chocolate and drinking coffee, his warm approach to discussing mind and body made change easy, understandable and, crucially , seemed possible.
Here he sticks to the Just One Thing format, but it’s longer and has visuals, so we get to see the effects of his single, simple change – what he calls a Just One Thing Challenge – on the volunteers who signed up to try it out. First he takes a classic early podcast episode about cold showers and uses single mother Jayne, from North Wales, as a guinea pig. Jayne explains that she is “permanently exhausted” and is recovering from a year of colds and infections that landed her in the hospital. The scare, she explains, was the “kick in the ass” she needed to pay more attention to her health.
So she finally agrees to turn her usual hot shower on cold, initially for 10 to 15 seconds, with the goal of building up to 30 seconds. Unless you’ve already done it, Mosley advises, this can be “pretty hardcore,” and the screams from Jayne’s bathroom suggest she’s definitely cold. She enlists three of her friends to join her in the challenge, and in addition to the home-cooled method, they also try cold showers on the beach, hosepipes in the River Dee and, eventually, inevitably, wild swimming (presumably in a rare stretch water that is currently not contaminated by the sewage that water companies dump into it at a staggering pace).
Does it work? Well, as anyone who regularly swims outdoors will be happy to tell you, chances are it will indeed do you some good. The daily cold shower proves to be energizing, women’s bodies slowly get used to the regular immersion in cold water, and the resulting stress relief is exactly what Jayne was looking for. The prospect of a cold shower may be a hard sell in October, when the sweaters are coming out of the closet and the heating is on, but overall this is as compelling as the podcast, and it’s nice to see the sheer joy Jayne and her friends get it from splashing around in the great outdoors.
Sara Cox does the voice-over that Mosley was never able to record. Every time you hear her voice, hearing the safety information, the disclaimers, and the study summaries that suggest that impressive statistic or that potential area of future research, you are reminded, in Mosley’s absence, that this is an unfinished project . It’s surprisingly moving. This includes the scene in which Mosley immerses himself in a tub filled with ice water in his garden, where he is filmed by his wife, Dr. Clare Bailey. “In theory this does me all kinds of good, but it doesn’t feel like it,” he shivers, smiling at his wife as she points her phone in his direction.
Mosley’s way of broadcasting was always so cheerful and spontaneous. I first came across him when he used psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, on television as part of a BBC Four documentary about the brain, and it was so fascinating that I have continued to follow his work ever since. Earlier this year on Channel 4’s Secrets of Your Big Shop, he tested internet health trends with an impressive level of dedication, only to report that, hmm, maybe TikTok’s insistence on shoving raw garlic cloves up your nose to prevent a cold isn’t that effective , or that increasing beetroot intake is probably as good an idea as everyone says.
We’re bombarded with fads and fake science these days, especially when it comes to the wellness industry, and Mosley had an invaluable ability to cut through the noise. There would be 10 episodes of this, and it inevitably feels unfinished, both in episode and series form. But, as Cox suggests, it’s a fitting tribute to the impact Mosley had on many viewers, and a final, warm suggestion that just one change could make a difference.
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