COLD PLUNGING 101: THE HYPE IS REAL
WHAT IS COLD PLUNGING?
Cold plunging is a cold water immersion process, where the water temp is below 59°F for an extended period of time. By decreasing your core body temperature, cold plunging stimulates your body's natural healing processes to unlock a myriad of health benefits, including immunity, metabolism, pain relief, and mental resilience.
Time-tested and science-backed for millennia, this ancient practice has evolved with modern day technology to provide optimal temperature control, hygiene, and even water flow, allowing you to fully enjoy the benefits of cold water therapy.
What does this mean for you? Whether you're looking to boost your immune system, improve your athletic recovery, or simply enhance your overall well-being, our cold plunging + contrast therapy services promise to elevate your wellness journey to new heights!
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Cold Plunge: The beginning
Cold plunging has been practiced for centuries across various cultures, standing the test of time among wellness practices. It dates back as far as the Ancient Egyptians and Romans, who used cold water therapies for relaxation, socialization, and medicinal purposes.
In the 400s-300s BCE, work by Hippocrates suggested cold water therapy could ‘allay lassitude’ (a state of physical or mental weariness). Research continued throughout millennia with cold-water immersion used to treat fever, to the latter end of the 1990s that unveiled its’ effects upon performance recovery.
Today, you will find leading health experts such as Dr. Andrew Huberman, Dr. Rhonda Patrick, and Dr. Susanna Søberg tout the all-encompassing benefits cold plunging has on our entire well-being.
BENEFITS of cold plunging:
Cold plunging has a multitude of physical and mental benefits for all walks of life, including those dealing with stress, anxiety, addiction, fatigue, muscle soreness, slow metabolism, and beyond. Like many disciplines, cold plunging evolves with continual use, building insight, perseverance, and cascading health benefits.
mental
Cold plunging triggers the release of endorphins, the body's natural "feel-good" chemicals, which alleviate stress and anxiety. Many people experience an elevated mood + energy burst after cold plunging, with a wake-up call to their cognitive focus. Routine cold plunging has also been linked to combating chronic fatigue and depression.
Dr. Andrew Huberman shared, “Deliberate cold exposure causes a significant release of epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine (aka noradrenaline) in the brain and body.” This alert feeling continues post plunge.
The fight or flight response to cold plunging teaches us how to navigate through difficult situations, building resilience to stress and challenges. As you grow with your cold plunge practice, you will discover an inner strength that translates + supports you outside of the plunge.
physical
Cold therapy is a go-to within sports medicine. Just as you would apply ice to an injured part of your body, cold plunging applies this healing principle to your entire body.
During a cold plunge, your blood vessels contract, flooding your cells with oxygen, and flushing away metabolic waste like lactic acid from your system. Cold plunging is a natural remedy to reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, making it an ideal recovery method for athletics, strength conditioning, and exercise.
Cold plunging also stimulates your body's metabolic rate. As your body works hard to generate heat, this process burns calories, flushes toxins, boosts metabolism, and can aid in weight loss. As touted by Dr. Rhonda Patrick, research into the affects of cold water immersion has also shown to convert white fat cells to brown fat cells (“good fat”), regulating sugar (glucose) and fat metabolism.
STATE-OF-THE-ART COLD PLUNGES + CONTRAST THERAPY
Our extensive travels and testing led us in partnership with Blue Cube, representing pioneering technologies in ergonomic design, flow rate, and customization. Renowned for its river-inspired cold water therapy, Blue Cube’s generous size allows full body + head submersion to optimize the full benefits of cold plunging.
In partnership with Sunlighten and Blue Cube, we are proud to offer contrast therapy, a method that involves alternating between therapies. By harnessing the power of hot and cold to stimulate your body's natural healing processes, you can experience a synergistic effect that boosts the benefits of each individual therapy.
Dr. Susanna Søberg, considered the leading metabolic scientist of hot/cold therapies, identifies the combination of hot, cold and breathwork therapies as the most powerful trifecta of health practices. Dr. Søberg emphasizes the importance of micro-stressing the body between one extreme temperature to the other to create healthy stress that can strengthen your mind and body, leading to a healthier, happier life.
what to expect
Our informed team will introduce you to the cold plunge + contrast therapy experience, explaining the education and preparatory steps from start to finish. The suites are fully appointed to serve individuals or private groups for an immersive + revitalizing experience.
If you are just starting out, stair step your progress and determine your sweet spot over time. For a less intensive experience, enter the cold plunge gently + keep hands out of the water.
It can be challenging to fully plunge - this is a normal experience. The cold shock may cause you to want to jump out. Breathwork (i.e. 2-to-1 breathing or box breathing), meditation, and group support are helpful companions through this process With practice, you will be amazed at how you unlock your inner strength + stamina to not only persevere through the experience - but also grow to covet it.
CREATING YOUR PRACTICE
We recommend beginning with a weekly routine so you can assess how your body feels as you introduce cold plunging.
As a guideline, research shows that 11 minutes of total cold plunging time a week is ideal, which can be broken up various ways to reach the total. As you evolve with cold plunging, we encourage you to explore other integrations that enhance your practice, such as breathwork, meditation, and talk therapy. Whether you are a beginner or maximalist, the result is unparalleled opportunities for your well-being.
Like all great wellness practices, you will discover how the benefits of cold plunging serve life needs outside of the plunge.
Ask your local studio about cold plunging.
When you feel good, life is good!
