This week we’re talking to Nicci Roscoe, author of Manifest Your Everything and Fabulous Impact. She is a qualified master NLP practitioner, life coach and wellbeing expert.

Hi, Nicci! If you could recommend One Good Thing everyone can do to improve their mental health, what would it be?

When we need an instant mood booster to help manage our everyday stress and mental health, splashing cold water over your face gives you an instant stress reset to feel calmer and cope so much better. It’s a perfect positive mindfulness exercise that is accessible to everyone and all budgets.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed and anxiety is at its highest, splashing your face with cold water or immersing your face in icy cold water is a wonderful mood shifter. More and more people are braving cold plunges in ice baths and natural water, such as rivers and the sea, but the same effects can be achieved in the safety of your home. If working from home gets stressful and an email sets you in a spin, it’s the perfect 20-second reset.

Just make sure you’re wearing waterproof mascara when you need to cool off and calm down.

Why have you chosen splashing your face with cold water as your OGT?

As well as distracting you and breaking the cycle of worrying or anxious thoughts, splashing your face with cold water or plunging your face into a bowl of icy cold water can trigger electrical impulses in the brain that help to boost your energy levels, making you feel more alert.

The cold against our skin also stimulates us to naturally take deeper breaths. This decreases the amount of CO2 in the body, which can help improve focus and concentration when you step back into your work day. Not only is it refreshing and revitalising, but splashing your face with cold water is like having a reset button that takes you from panic to calm or tiredness to energised – both mentally and physically.

When we’re feeling stressed we often go into fight or flight mode. The sudden impact and feeling of the cold water splash helps us to stop, reset and look at things from a calmer better perspective.

Sold. How do we do it?

You could try the practice first thing in the morning to feel refreshed and ready to take on the day or use cold water as a stress management tool.

Before you go anywhere, start by taking a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth three times and follow with a big splash of cold water or plunging your face into icy cold water.

Fill a spray bottle with cold water so you have it on the go! Give yourself a spray every time you feel the need to. The impact of spraying your face gives you the wide awake feeling and instantly changes your mood.

This sounds pretty easy, but are there ways we can get your One Good Thing wrong? How do we avoid any pitfalls?

It may not be so practical to splash your face with cold water if you’re about to have a job interview or at a party or in a meeting. Soaking your face isn’t practical if you wear make-up or if you are out and about. But small practices such as a cold splash of water after your morning shower at the beginning of your day can support your nervous system later on.

How do you personally do your One Good Thing?

I always splash my face with cold water first thing in the morning to give myself a wake-up call. It helps me feel wide awake in an instant and gives me a lovely boost of energy.

If I’m rushing and have things coming at me from all angles, such as messages, phone calls or the dogs needing feeding, I just take a deep breath, splash my face with cold water and stop and slow down. During the day I carry a spray bottle of water with me. It’s my reset reminder and I highly recommend it.

And how has doing this changed your life?

In 2001 I was given the devastating news that I had a brain tumour. I had been a busy mum, teaching aerobics and presenting fitness content on TV and radio. After my diagnosis and an operation to remove the benign mass, I overhauled my life. A part of this was changing the pace of how I was living and working.

I retrained as a life coach, a reiki practitioner and as a master NLP practitioner. Now I help others as well as myself with tools such as the big splash to build their confidence and courage so they can transform themselves and deal with the challenges they face.

I have a scan every three years to check the tumour is not growing, even though they were able to remove all of the tumour and my surgeon is confident it will not grow back.

If I get bogged down in worries or if I’m feeling tired and need to re-energise during my day I will often splash my face with cold water or use a water spray if I’m on the go. It can reset my mindset in an instant.

I am also a big advocate that positive thinking can help people get over the hugest hurdles in their lives. Positive thinking helped me and I want to do what I can to help others believe the same.

Frame Of Mind is Stylist’s home for all things mental health and the mind. From expert advice on the small changes you can make to improve your wellbeing to first-person essays and features on topics ranging from autism to antidepressants, we’ll be exploring mental health in all its forms. You can check out the series home page to get started.

Images: Getty