I could feel my heart beating out of my chest as the shortness of breath forced me to sit. I hadn’t had any caffeine, it was 6am and I was working out in my garage. I thought I was having some kind of heart attack, as if there are different kinds. Everything was a blur until it subsided.
After seeing my doctor he said it was likely a panic attack. Because heart disease runs in my family I decided to seek a cardiologist for a second opinion. While I’ve seen commercials with athletes strapped with flat, sticky electrodes on their chest being monitored on treadmills, I never imagined getting an echocardiogram in my thirties. It wasn’t as glamorous as those Gatorade commercials – but I was relieved with the results and the clean bill of health.
I was determined to understand the root cause of the event from both a physical and mental health standpoint to prevent it from recurring. Another doctor I’d seen said I’d been functioning in survival mode as if I were being chased by a sabertooth tiger which was unsustainable and it was likely that my cortisol levels were through the roof. She said I had to make a change and that my toxic work situation was likely the culprit for taking the top off the tea kettle.
I had to do a better job of managing stress. Outside of nutrition and fitness, that meant more rigor around sleep. I’ve tested many solutions to help improve it – from sleep trackers, cooling pads, to herbal supplements. I’ve even interviewed the sleep doctor (Dr. Michael Breus) and he suggested I test for sleep apnea to rule it out.
One of the best pieces of advice I received from my sleep doctor was that I just needed to sleep earlier. Sure, managing caffeine intake was important – but understanding my sleep pattern made a world of difference. “Sleep is the new coffee,” someone said.
Improved Mental Resilience
Of all the tools – the one that has helped me the most with managing my stress is cold water immersion. Before trying it, the only reason I’d ever take a cold shower is if my water heater broke and I had no other choice.
I gave it a shot because I’m curious to try things that have helped others, but I was so scared to get into frigid temperatures that I’d rather eat kimchi. Once I came to the realization that I wasn’t going to die if I went into cold water, I began to research how to ease my fear. Do I jump in like a kid ripping off a band-aid to minimize the shock?
What I loved about my cold plunge from Edge Theory Labs is that their Director of Performance, Samuel Whiting, leads an audio recording where he takes you on a journey through the process to prepare you before, during, after the plunge. Listening to Sam is as meditative as hearing Andy Puddicomb’s British accent on my Headspace app.
In the first stage (pre-cooling) of what’s called Level 1 of the Edge Sequence, it’s a combination of visualization and breath work. He also suggests gentle movement like bouncing on your heels to release tension. These few minutes truly prepared me to get into the cold with intention. It was the most important stage because I needed help getting through the challenge of the initial cold shock. I can hear Sam’s guidance before every session:
“Notice tensions in your body, anticipations of getting into the cold water and recognize the unique well of potential that lives within yourself to regulate, to meet challenges, to go beyond what you’re capable of.”
Sam studied peak performance and his modalities are in breathwork and cold exposure. He’s a certified Wim Hof Method instructor. Wim Hof, also known as The Iceman, is recognized for withstanding frigid temperatures and for popularizing the benefits of ice baths.
While getting inside the tub is always difficult for me, what I can tell you is that I feel extraordinary when I get out. The experience itself feels like a meditation and the best part is warming up in the sunlight after, like an ice cube cooling off naturally. I began my journey at 60°F and have dropped down to 43°F degrees where I typically sit for 8-10 minutes. I not only track the date and length of the session, but also note how I feel in a notepad on my phone.
“Cold as hell, tried not to let my ego get in the way in terms of time,” I wrote on July 31st.
Recent literature has found that the cold stimulus activates natural mood boosters like endorphins and dopamine by up to 250%, which can boost feelings of positivity. I’ve read that your brain chemistry changes as if you went sky diving – which certainly, I would never do!
Cold plunging helps put the other stressors in my life into perspective because it’s often the most difficult thing I have to do all day. After my session – everything else seems a bit easier. Cold water immersion is like jet fuel for my mental resilience.
As a byproduct, it forces shallow breathing which activates the vagus nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system. In other words, it forces me to control my breathing when my body is stressed. I’ve found myself using this as a tool when I’m perhaps triggered by my kids’ tantrums and it’s helped me become more patient.
Faster Recovery and Reduced Inflammation
I’ve also found the cold immersion to help with my recovery and inflammation from working out. I’ve had ACL reconstructive surgery and I typically avoid back to back days of running outdoors because of knee pain and swelling. Most noticeably, when I plunge after a run it feels like my body recovers in half the time. One study found that cold water immersion especially helped improve muscle soreness after endurance training.
After damaging muscle fibers from a high intensity workout, it often triggers an inflammatory response leading to delayed onset muscle soreness which is felt as stiffness or swelling ranging from 24 to 72 hours after exercising. Anyone who has trained has felt this.
The cold water immersion can help limit the inflammatory response and reduce symptoms of delayed onset muscle soreness – which is why people who cold plunge often recover faster and can feel more prepared for their next training session.
Improved Sleep Quality
While I review my sleep results in the Oura app which include metrics like REM and deep sleep – what I can tell you is that I’ve often felt more refreshed in the morning. I’m not tossing, turning, or waking up throughout the night. It’s been known that cold exposure reduces nighttime cortisol levels and it improves your circadian rhythm due to greater thermoregulation from brown adipose tissue activation.
What’s most fascinating about all of this is when I survey people on the top reasons why they continue their practice of cold water immersion – I often hear different responses. One woman on a Facebook group said she plunges because it’s the only solution she’s found to help with her migraines. A father of three who is training for a marathon told me it’s helped him recover faster between workouts.
Edge Theory Labs was born out of necessity by two cousins who needed a better recovery tool rather than jumping into a potentially dangerous chest freezer. In 2019, Joshua Church followed an impulse to sign up for a retreat in Iceland led by Wim Hof focused on breath work and cold water immersion.
When he returned he was hooked on the benefits of cold exposure and started taking ice baths regularly. The problem was that buying bags of ice to fill the bath tub became time consuming and costly. The options for a decent cold plunge were slim since they typically cost upwards of $15,000.
“The experience in Iceland was enlightening because suddenly I was learning how our nervous system works and how our body can store emotions. Our body is a waterfall of wisdom and by doing breath work I was able to tap into that.” He said during our interview.
That inspired Joshua, who become a certified Wim Hof Method instructor, to ask his cousin, Rob Church, if he could help him hack a chest freezer.
“I didn’t understand that he wanted to use it for cold water immersion at first. He talked about going deer hunting, so I thought he wanted to store meat in the freezer.”
Once Rob understood what he wanted to use it for he knew he could do better than hacking a chest freezer and through 18 months of working through prototypes they landed on a solution that was portable, could be assembled with no tools, and ranged from 37 °F to 105 °F which could serve as a hot tub – all while not having to use any ice.
They saw an opportunity to develop a product that was more affordable, but one that also included the proper filtration and included the required horsepower for a chiller to work efficiently.
They couldn’t take a 150 lbs tub to one of their Ironman triathlons. The Edge Tub is inflatable and is made out of the same sturdy material as a paddle board. It fits into a backpack they provide and it’s sturdy enough that I can literally sit on top of it before getting in and it doesn’t bend an inch.
There are two other features that have made a difference in the way I use it. The tub comes with a cover that locks into place. With young children at home I’m always wary of accidental drowning so I always lock it after each use. Additionally, I turn the tub on and off through their app which is a nice, convenient touch.
While there shouldn’t be a limit to investing in your health, the beauty of cold immersion is that you can take a cold shower or bath at home for free. It’s a gateway to see results and develop the habit before taking the plunge (pun intended). My Peloton collected so much dust that I resented it every time we made eye contact. Within a year I sold it for pennies on the dollar.
We’re on the balance beam of life and we’re always getting nudged off one way or another. Your eating habits or workout program is not zero sum. You can do P90X in 95 days. It’s okay to miss one day, but studies show that momentum gets derailed when you miss two days in a row, which in my case turn into two weeks.
The practice of cold exposure has been another guardrail to help keep me on track. If you give it a go — you can read about the list of benefits. The list is not what will keep you going, it’s the benefits you notice immediately that will keep you coming back. If you can see past the social media influencers touting their perfect morning routines, like anything else — give it a try and judge the cold exposure experience for yourself.
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