Ben Fogle has shared the wellness ritual that helped him recover from a “mental health wobble”.
The former Countryfile presenter, 51, revealed last year that he’d suffered “crippling paranoia and anxiety” during a “breakdown” in 2023.
Fogle has now revealed that “hot and cold therapy” has aided his “recovery” with the broadcaster even installing an at-home sauna in his west London home.
In a piece for The Times, Fogle revealed he is “obsessed” with saunas and has visited 20 across the UK so far while touring with his Channel 5 show, Wild – a fifth of the estimated public ones in the UK.
“When I had a mental health wobble 18 months ago, the sauna switched from meditative to therapeutic. It really was my medicine and I credit my recovery in part to hot and cold therapy,” he wrote.
“To sweat feels like releasing all the anxiety, irritation, worry and fear. I feel lighter, happier and calmer after one. I sleep better and think clearer. I am a sauna purist.
“I like to sit in silence. It is a meditation for me. My brain zones out and I think of nothing,” he added.
Numerous studies have found a link between sauna, cold water immersion and improved mood – the hot to cold shift releases endorphins normally associated with cardiovascular exercise.
Fogle revealed he had tried saunas all over the world in locations including Sweden, Russia, Antarctica and the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
“I have found tremendous healing, comfort and happiness in a sauna. In Nordic nations they say it is the poor man’s pharmacy. They really are nature’s medicine,” he wrote.
It comes after Fogle last year detailed how he used cognitive behavioural therapy and unspecified medication to help him recover from a mental health “episode” he suffered in 2023.
Fogle explained his mental health “breakdown” was due in part to “burnout” and that he has since simplified his life in order to get back to his “calm old self”.
Writing on Instagram, Fogle told his followers: “I’m telling you this firstly because I believe as someone who shares my successes it’s important to also share our vulnerabilities. It is not to jump on some trend or for sympathy. It’s because if it happened to me, [it could] happen to you.”
He continued: “But just like a broken bone or a pneumonia ravaged lung or even a flesh eating bug (all of which I have had) we can heal.”
If you have been affected by this article, you can contact the following organisations for support: mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk.
