Two people discuss cold plunge protocols and benefits. Speaker A does 33-35 degrees for 1-2 minutes. Keep water below 55 degrees, immerse your head to trigger the dive reflex, and use breath control to manage stress. Claimed benefits include better blood-glucose control, brown fat activation, and improved vagal nerve function.
Questions this video answers
Keep the water under 55 degrees (as stated).
About 33–35 degrees for 1–2 minutes.
Around 5–10 minutes.
The mammalian dive reflex; it benefits vagal nerve function.
Chapters
Today's topic will literally take your breath away. It is cold plunging.
I'm going to give you some tips to cold plunge like a pro and share some science about why you should consider cold plunging in the first place. Now, the setup here is pretty simple. You want the water to be under 55 degrees. Now, I'm a fan of colder water and a shorter treatment time. I personally do about 33 to 35 degrees for one to two minutes. If you choose to do something like 50 or 55 degrees, your plunge might be longer, like five to 10 minutes to get the same amount of benefits. Now, your body might want to tense up in the cold plunge. But just remember, all the control of your nervous system comes from your breath. Control your breath and you'll control your physiology. Control your physiology and you'll control your stress.
Now look, the first thing I want to tell you before I tell you about how I approach the cold punch is that if you make a thing a thing, it becomes a thing. I'll say it again. If you make a thing a thing, it becomes a thing. What I mean by that is that I don't stand there in front of the cold plunge for long periods of time, visualizing myself as a monk sitting on a pristine Himalayan mountaintop, or visualizing a dragon breathing fire on my skin to warn me. Frankly, while you've stand in front of a cold plunge, the harder it is to get in. Sometimes you just gotta take the plunge. Now, however, I do focus on controlling my breathing. But it's not long before I get into the plunge. I just make sure I check in. I'm mindful with myself. I close my eyes for a quick second, I'll take one breath in and then a long exhale. If I'm really feeling like I need a little bit of extra time, I'll even take two or three breaths in and a long exhale. Now, you may have heard about things like Wim Hof breathwork protocols. And it is true that if you were to do something like a series of Wim Hof breaths, like fully in.
Letting go, fully in letting go, and.
You were to say in a separate room or indoors or sitting beside the cold plunge, do a few rounds like that. You do get a big rush of nitric oxide and vasodilation and a drop in the stress response. But please don't feel like you have to do something like that prior to a cold plunge. Now, a cold plunge is kind of an nice little thing to do for dessert after some Wim Hof breathwork for Me, for example, in the sauna. But you really don't have to do something like that to get a good response to the cold plunge or be able to handle it, so to speak, as far as getting in. So again, try not to make too big of a deal out of some elaborate cold plunge ritual because then it's just going to make you stand there thinking more and more and more about whether or not you actually want to get into the water.
So I've taken a breath, kind of stabilized my physiology, made sure I'm in control of my stress levels, and again, that breath can be as simple as you've got a cover on your cold plunge, remove it. Breath in.
Ow.
I like to get in as I'm starting into that exhale.
Once you're in the water.
Make sure you get the head under.
When you get your head, your brain, your cranium, your neck, all of that wet and cold, it activates the mammalian dive reflex and that's very, very good for your vagal nerve function. So if you can get your head under the water, sorry about having to redo your hair and your makeup. It helps out quite a bit with getting more benefits out of the cold plunge.
So besides feeling like a total warrior from the habit of cold plunging, consider the science back of benefits.
Now there are many other reasons that I choose to cold plunge beyond just the improvement in vagal nerve function. You see an increase in metabolic rate, you see better blood glucose control, you can better calorie burning. Brown fat has even been shown to alleviate metabolic issues like high cholesterol or impaired insulin secretion and insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. So I like to use the cold plunge to burn a few extra calories, but also to make my body better able to regulate blood glucose. Cold can increase longevity by modulating MTOR pathways and inflammatory pathways. Yet another cool way to jump in the cold plunge.
Prime your body before workout with a hormone and neurotransmitter boost. Recover faster from your workouts with a quick post workout cooling session. Optimize your brain and your nerve function and much, much more. So if you are ready to experience all the science backed benefits of cold plunging and you're ready to take the plunge yourself, then drop a comment right below this.
