256-SYNCPodcast_ColdPlungeStart

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today we’re diving into the topic of cold plunging for health benefits in women. Last week on the podcast we talked about infrared saunas and red light therapy and now we’re hitting the other end of the spectrum with the cold. All over social media nowadays are scientists claiming that cold plunging is beneficial to both muscle and longevity and even cold plunge studios are starting to pop up all over the country.

[00:01:22] Jenny Swisher: So what’s all the rage? Is there anything to this? Well, let’s dive in. For decades, athletes have been using cold water and ice therapy for recovery from intense workouts and competitions. Originally, the thought was easy, right? The cold would create constriction and therefore reduce inflammation and pain.

[00:01:36] Jenny Swisher: But according to Dr. Stacey Sims, she says, yes, this does happen, quote, but in times when we want to invoke inflammation for adaptation, cold exposure can be a hindrance to recovery and slow adaptations, end quote. This is very interesting. She goes on to say that there are also sex differences. this. Quote, cooling your body works by tricking your body into redistributing the blood from the skin back into circulation through the muscles.

[00:01:59] Jenny Swisher: Men don’t necessarily need this because their blood vessels naturally constrict post exercise to push blood away from the skin and back into the central circulation. Women on the other hand, tend to vasodilate after exercise, meaning our blood tends to pool in our skin, dropping blood pressure and reducing blood flow to the damaged muscle.

[00:02:17] Jenny Swisher: Cold water immersion for women can help speed up vasoconstriction after hard exertion, which to get blood back centrally, helping to increase blood pressure and circulation into the muscles. End quote. One thing that I teach within my SYNC course material is the importance of understanding body temperature as women and how it shifts throughout the menstrual cycle.

[00:02:34] Jenny Swisher: In the follicular phase of our cycles, when estrogen is on the rise in preparation for ovulation, our core temperature remains lower. Then, at ovulation, we see a temperature rise, which begins a higher temperature 1 2 week time period, known as high progesterone or luteal phase. In this part of our cycles, our workouts can make us more red in the face, and because we’re more catabolic with the progesterone, we have a harder time recovering from our higher intensity workouts and lowering that body temperature to status quo.

[00:03:00] Jenny Swisher: This is why we use things like cooling towels and ice in our hydration during this part of our cycle.

[00:03:05] Jenny Swisher: We must remember, especially if you’re new to cold plunging, that women do not need as cold of a plunge as men. Why? Well, women start shivering at a higher temperature than men and are more sensitive to cold exposure. Generally speaking, cold water immersion is when you expose your body up to your shoulders between 32 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit for anywhere from 30 seconds at a time with a two minute break in between, or sometimes as many as six by three minutes at 59 degrees Fahrenheit.

[00:03:32] Jenny Swisher: This all sounds really cold to me. So what does the science say? Well, a literature review found that due to the higher resting core body temperature at the luteal phase, a woman’s cold response was more protective during that phase. When the air temperature was rapidly decreased from 89 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit, women in their luteal phase and those on oral contraceptives started shivering at higher core to body temperature rates, indicating an increased sensitivity to the cold.

[00:03:57] Jenny Swisher: Since shivering can cut short the effects of brown fat activation with cold exposure, this loosely suggests that women might experience less benefit when progesterone levels are high. The same review referenced a study that showed that women who were exposed to decreasing air temperature put on protective clothes like sweaters more quickly in their luteal phase compared to follicular phase.

[00:04:18] Jenny Swisher: In the other two weeks of a woman’s cycle, estrogen levels are higher and cold induced thermogenesis was significantly increased in women when compared to men. In week two, when estrogen levels peak, this difference was most significant. We can speculate from these findings that during the first half of a woman’s monthly cycle, she may have an edge over men when it comes to cold exposure benefits.

[00:04:38] Jenny Swisher: In other words, the jury is still out on luteal phase, but for follicular phase, this is a great biohacking tool. The physical benefits of this could include things like improved immune system function, reduced inflammation, better sleep quality, improved energy. even improved body composition or weight loss, increased brown adipose tissue activation and non shivering thermogenesis, increased longevity, reduced blood lipids, increased glucose uptake and insulin response, better temperature regulation, reduced pain levels, and even reduced muscle soreness when practiced post exercise.

[00:05:12] Jenny Swisher: Now that’s not all, there’s also emotional and psychological benefits including better mood, decreased depressive symptoms, Reduced in reduced anxiety, improved sexual desire, increased gratitude, and sense of wellbeing, and decreased cortisol. It’s so interesting, right? I remember when my husband, who was a collegiate runner, used to do ice baths for his lower body post race.

[00:05:33] Jenny Swisher: We thought he was crazy. And now this is becoming all the rage with actual studios popping up for you to bathe in so that you can literally just pay somebody to take an ice bath, breath work Masters out there like Wim Hof have really paved the way in training the mind and the breath with these hard encounters.

[00:05:51] Jenny Swisher: I’m sure that for the perimenopausal woman out there listening to this who’s experiencing the ups and downs of hot flashes and cold chills, this sounds intriguing. But even for the menstruating female, there can be benefit in helping your body recover, especially in luteal phase during high hormones and in aiding muscle recovery.

[00:06:07] Jenny Swisher: We can do these little tips and tricks, these little biohacking tips to help us really leverage our energy. My recommendation to you would be start with cooling towels during luteal phase workouts and work your way to cold showers. Even cold showers have amazing health benefits. If you have access to a cold plunge or if there’s a local studio near you, perhaps try it out during your first half of your, perhaps try something like a cold plunge out in the first half of your menstrual cycle.

[00:06:33] Jenny Swisher: We know that dipping into cold water causes blood vessel constriction and this improves circulation. We have to, um, we have to assume that improved circulation helps with toxin removal from the body, which we know is crucial in hormone balance. Our bodies are surrounded by environmental toxins and oftentimes, especially in perimenopause, xenoestrogens that have no place in our bodies, but to be stored, have to come out.

[00:06:55] Jenny Swisher: So things like cold plunging and things like infrared sauna sweating, like we talked about last week, these are all really great ways to detoxify and recoup. I know for me, this is another area of intrigue. I’m all about biohacking and finding the little things that can help me gain an edge when it comes to the way I feel and my energy.

[00:07:11] Jenny Swisher: And I hope this is something that you will consider too. But maybe we just start with a cold shower. I know that’s where I’m going to start. Thank you so much my friends for tuning in. I hope this has been helpful for you. Until next time, we’ll talk soon. Bye bye.