Cold Plunge for Women

• Set temp at 55-60 degrees to get benefits (we don’t need it ice cold to receive benefits.)

• Start off 30 sec, work up to 1-2 minutes. Receive max benefits at 5-10 minutes at these cooler degrees

• Don’t move around. Sit still and create the insulating heat layer around body

• You might not shiver until after you get out of plunge, which can last up to a couple hours. Warm up gradually wearing layers and stay hydrated

• When doing Sauna and cold therapy together, best to end on cold.

• Do cold plunge before you train/exercise

• Sauna can be done before and after 

• Why higher cold plunge temps work better for us?

  • Our stress response in ice water is too severe. We go into super survival mode (sympathetic drive) which keeps us out of the metabolic benefits. We need to be mindful of our cortisol hormones.

  • We want metabolic benefits (we want to shiver which creates metabolic heat) we can get there with higher temps don’t need to be in ice water.

  • When Exposed to environmental stress (heat and cold)

    • See improvement in parasympathetic drive and ability to get into a calming state

    • Body becomes more resilient to stress

    • Increase in body being able to use glucose; better insulin sensitivity; blood glucose control, signal to lose deep body fat and cardiovascular responses

• BOTTOM LINE: Heat and Cold Therapy causes the production of shock or stress proteins in the body. These stress proteins help the body adapt and protect our cells from damage caused by stress.