Cold Thermogenesis
Do you experience brain fog with occasional difficulty recalling simple things? Are you little soft in the middle and want to lose some body fat? Do you feel a little lazy and could you use a little recharging? Time to get cold.
We love to move and pick up heavy things and sprint and mountain bike and wakeboard and surf and [enter your favorite pastime here]. Sore muscles and stiff joints with a general creakiness often accompany our lifestyles, whether active or sedentary.
Cold thermogenesis is the fancy name for making yourself really cold. It can be as simple as turning your water all the way cold or as complicated as full body cryotherapy. Why the heck would I want to intentionally make myself cold and uncomfortable?
Benefits of Getting Cold
Recovery From Sport
A rapid drop in skin temperature helps to push oxygen through the body reducing inflammation and muscle soreness. It improves range of motion in the joints & stimulates the release of endorphins.
Anti-Aging Benefits
Stimulates production of collagen helping to create a smoother and firmer skin resulting in a more youthful appearance.
Robust Immune System
Increases blood circulation and helps to boost our immune systems. Relieves pain, reduces stress, boosts sleep and increases immune strength
Improved Body Composition
Metabolic benefits that aid in improved body composition by tapping into our “brown fat” causing us to shiver a little. The “brown fat” helps burn the “white fat” (the stuff we want to get rid of). It also flushes toxins with oxygenated blood.
Mental Toughness
Simply put, psyching yourself out leading up to and during a bout of extreme cold forces you to tap into your soul a little deeper. Pushing yourself to get through the ordeal has lasting underlying benefits. “Surviving” the cold makes the rest of the stressful situations a little easier to deal with (stoic).
Simple Ways to Make Yourself Cold
Cold shower
It’s tough at first so ease into it if you must. Start with a normal hot shower and at the end turn it cold for 30 seconds. Increase the time under the cold until you can get in and turn the cold water on yourself right away. It’s such a mental game and once you realize you aren’t going to die, it get’s better. The exhilarating feeling afterwards stays with you for quite a while and it’s a great way to start or end the day.
Ice bath
OK, this one is brutal. Simply load up the bathtub, a rubber trash-can, a galvanized horse trough it doesn’t really matter. Fill with water and ice and get in there.
Cryotherapy
There are two options here. One is a chamber that uses nitrogen gas to cool and the other is a “walk-in” freezer. Either way you are only in for 2 ½ to 3 ½ minutes making it much easier to deal with than an ice bath. I prefer the walk-in freezer as it just makes more sense and I like to move around instead of being confined and somewhat claustrophobic.
Stay Chilly
Don’t be in such a hurry to make yourself comfortable when it gets a little bit cold. We are so fast to have the “perfect” temperature with our climate controlled cars and homes. Here’s a concept … let your body adapt to the temperature you are experiencing and give your body a reason to change.
Now go get cold.
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