bracing
adj.fresh and full of energy. You use this to describe something cold or sharp that makes you feel more awake and healthy.
adj.imparting a feeling of vigor or freshness; physically or mentally stimulating. Often used to describe cold weather, sea air, or a blunt but helpful piece of criticism.
“The bracing sea air woke us up immediately.”
“After hours in the stuffy office, a bracing walk in the winter wind felt wonderful.”
“The professor provided a bracing critique of the student's thesis, stripping away the unnecessary jargon to reveal the core flaws in the argument.”
Typically used as an attributive adjective before a noun or predicatively after a linking verb like 'be' or 'feel'.
“Hawaii is bracing for what could be its first direct hit from a hurricane since 1992, as category one storm Lala churns off its coast.”
“The rest of the island chain is bracing for 10.2 to 15.2 centimetres (4 to 6 inches) of precipitation.”
By surface analysis, brace + -ing.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.