Cold water immersion trains your brain's executive function, the part that commands you to stay uncomfortable. Three minutes in ice water increases blood flow to this region, strengthening it like a muscle and boosting confidence in your ability to handle hard things.
I want to talk about the cingulate, what do they call it, the anterior cingulate cortex. I want to talk about executive function. This is somebody doing their first ice bath. The body and the captain, the captain and the crew, the captain being executive function. Captain says, get in the water. And the crew's like, no, really? You think we should? I've heard that it's good for us. Get in the water. And so finally the crew is like, oh shit, I'll tip a toe in. And the crew tips a toe in. We're not doing this. This is insane. If the captain is successful, finally the crew finds themselves immersed in the ice water and arguing about it the entire time. When can we get out? We want to get out. This is terrible. This is awful. This is awful. The entire time blood is being flooded into that part of the brain. It's being flooded into that part of the brain like a muscle, and it's growing the longer they stay in. And then finally, at the 3-minute mark, if that's, say, the recommended goal, the captain finally releases the crew and says, hey, you can get out now. And what does the crew invariably say at 3 minutes? I can keep going. I'll keep going. Then the crew gets out of the water and salutes the captain for its brilliance and its wisdom. And that's the building of self-esteem. And that's the building of executive function. And so the idea that we should all at this point be seeking the harder things, the harder exercises, the more difficult behaviors, the bigger projects. If we aren't going to do that stuff, we're going to be doomed.
