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A 24-year-old who spent years hiding his struggling mental health behind drink and drugs is now reaching millions as a wellness influencer.
Hamza Dar – known as Humz – was in a “downward spiral of anxiety and drugs”, compounded by undiagnosed ADHD.
In his first year at the University of Bristol, he submitted no work and had a 0% turnout. But he sought help from their mental health services, was able to turn his life around and came away with a first.
Now he’s sharing self-care tips — which focus on meditation, visualization and cold water immersion — with his “community” on TikTok.
Humz was a promising young footballer who had won a scholarship to one of Manchester’s top high schools.
But during his A-Levels and gap year, he fell into a cycle of long nights of partying, followed by days of anxiety and depression.
“My brain started deteriorating,” he said. “I was a pretty confident guy, but I developed the craziest social anxiety out of nowhere. It got to the point where I couldn’t even talk to my own family without feeling anxious.
“I had never really thought about mental health before. I couldn’t handle the anxiety, so I just took more drugs and drank more alcohol.
“Suddenly everything fell apart. My parents are Muslims and only found out I had been drinking alcohol when the police took me home for driving under the influence.
As his trial neared, Humz’s friends flew out to travel while he stayed home.
He had been delighted to study at the University of Bristol, but his destructive behavior only continued there.
“I only left my halls to go out,” he said. “I finally fell asleep at 8 or 9 a.m. and woke up at 6 p.m. In my freshman year I had 0% attendance and didn’t even try to work, my brain was too fried.
“My anxiety was going crazy and I felt so heartbroken. I barely spoke to my parents and I know my mom was really worried. I ruined his life for a few years.
“I failed my first year, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell my parents.
“I started talking to the wellbeing team at the university. It was the first time I had spoken about my mental health: they were so helpful to me, they kept me going .
Last week Bristol became one of the first universities to receive a University Mental Health Charter Award
Humz received a second chance at college. During rehearsal for his freshman year, he was diagnosed with ADHD and fell on it a self-help book by Dr. Joe Dispenza.
He started taking care of himself and started meditating – sometimes meditating for an hour and a half at a time – and started envisioning a different future, with a very different Humz.
After a month, he began to feel renewed: “But it took a year or two before I felt healed and it’s still a process now – you have to stay in control.”
Throughout this, he felt a spiritual desire to help others in their struggles.
I have found my purpose in recovery and that is to help others. We were never taught this stuff in school, but everyone should – and I want to help do that. The same way Marcus Rashford is for school dinners, I want it to be for sanity.
Getting that first from Bristol was the moment that dominated everything. I knew how important this was to my mother after everything I had put her through. I had to work very hard; I kept visualizing my results and hugging my mom over and over.
Our relationship is the best thing ever. We are super close.
Humz is now reaching millions through his TikTok channel, which focuses on mental health and in particular cold water immersion. Many videos show him slipping into ice baths. Two of his videos have been ranked world number one for all ice bath content on TikTok.
Humz takes a cold shower every day, meditates morning and evening, takes regular ice baths, and trains frequently. He no longer relies on substances as a coping mechanism and is instead “obsessed” with natural effects.
After graduating, he landed a well-paying graduate program with Pepsi, but turned it down to focus full-time on helping people improve their mental health.
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