Now let’s move on to cold exposure and much like heat, cold has an incredible number of benefits. Similarly to heat, it is a stressor to the body, it lowers inflammation, improves overall immune function and speeds up the metabolism. A few reasons why cold is so beneficial for our health are:
- Fat loss and Metabolism - If people want to stimulate metabolism, fat loss, accumulation of “brown fat”, then exposure to cold is a must. (If you are wondering what “brown fat” is, it is extremely beneficial in keeping our spinal cord warm when it is cold out. Kids have a ton of it. Why? Kids and babies can’t shiver so they have a lot of brown fat to keep them warm and alive when they get cold.) An example of cold exposure is ending a shower on cold is a good way to stimulate your metabolism. This is because it forces you to warm back up naturally. Ending on heat would not cause the same outcome and increase of metabolism.
- Improve overall mental health - Cold water immersion increases production of endorphins, noradrenaline and dopamine (mood-elevating hormones). The cold stimulates metabolism, and it is well known that when you do a cold ice bath or shower, even 20 seconds at very cold temps or 20 minutes at moderately cool temperature causes a massive increase in dopamine and epinephrine/adrenaline which has shown improvements in alertness, mood and metabolism that lasts several hours.
- Pain and Inflammation - Cold therapy is an established method for reducing inflammation after exercise and managing acute inflammation. Inflammatory markers or biomarkers are measurements that help us understand what is happening in our body and with that what is inflamed. Cold water exposure has been proven through multiple research studies to positively impact the inflammatory markers and reduce the number that shows up on a blood test. This includes cold air, cold showers, cryotherapy, and ice baths.
- Vagus Nerve Activation - You know we LOVE the Vagus Nerve! Exposing yourself to acute cold conditions, increases the stimulation of the Vagus Nerve which in turn, decreases our sympathetic activity and increases our parasympathetic activity. This then results in a lower heart rate, turned on immune system, stimulation of our digestion system and so many other great functions our body does naturally.
It is suggested for cold exposure that we should expose ourselves for 11 minutes per week over the course of a week. Perhaps 4 days of roughly 3 minutes per day.
By implementing these practices into our weekly routines can truly have us living in a less anxious, stressed, toxic and inflamed world. What we do to minimize daily stressors and prioritize our health can start with regular cold and heat exposure. Please always check with your Health Coach, Functional Medicine Practitioner or Doctor to ensure that these techniques are right for you.
If you ever have any questions - please feel free to email us at info@vagusclinic.com and one of our Client Care Coordinators would be happy to answer your questions and point you in the right direction to help get you started on your personal health journey!
