Cold Exposure

Cold exposure is highly talked about, prescribed, and utilized now more than ever. It’s in every podcast and wellness article, and there are dedicated spaces to it. The use of cold is a very traditional therapy. Hot/cold techniques were taught in Naturopathic medical school, and they were techniques taken from decades ago. These things catch on years later because modern science catches up to what was previously hard to study, or what wasn’t rigorously studied years ago.

With every trend, getting to know where the information is coming from is really imperative. Is it well informed? Biased? Does it consider physiology? While cold exposure isn’t wildly dangerous, there is potential for harm or ineffectiveness. It’s important to understand proper dose, timing, and restrictions to reap the benefits.

While a fancy full submersion is ideal, it’s not practical or affordable for most, nor is it absolutely needed. If you have access to a shower, you have access to therapeutic cold.

Key points to consider:

❄️Aim for 1-3 minutes of as cold as possibe

🛁If fully submerging, just once a week shows great benefit

🚿If showering, aim for 5-7x per week (equal to 1 submersion)

✨For mood/energy support, daily cold exposure is suggested

❄️Ensure the back of the neck is hit

💪Avoid cold exposure in the 6-8 hours after strength/hypertrophy training

❄️End on cold for maximum benefit, but consider hot before bed if the cold is too stimulating

Avoid if:

🤰Pregnant — consult a doctor, and likely use less cold temperatures

😞Severely depleted or in burnout — wait to initiate cold exposure until a little more resilience is built

🩸Actively menstruating (first few days)

😰Lots of chronic pain — consult a doctor

Why cold:

😣A source of hormetic stress — a controlled amount of stress that you actively and voluntarily engage in, that you overcome, improving stress threshold and resilience

🧘🏻‍♀️Triggers the sympathetic nervous system which then requires you to engage the parasympathetic

🧠Improves vagal tone (gut brain connection)

💫Stimulates white blood cells (improves immunity)

☮️Manages mood

⚡️Energy stimulation

🧠Dopamine stimulation and balancing