Ice Baths for Enhanced Brain Performance?
Small sample sizes, gender bias, lack of control groups.
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Today At A Glance:
Cold exposure, including ice baths has been getting a bad rep in the last 2 weeks due to misleading studies cited by many “performance experts” These studies are lacking evidence due to - in part- small sample sizes: studies often include a limited number of participants, making it difficult to generalize the results and gender bias: Some studies have only included participants of one gender, which may not provide a comprehensive understanding of potential benefits. Here, I explain my take on why I advocate for ice baths to enhance brain performance.
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Neuro Athletes,
Many of you are on the fence regarding ice baths. With so much going on lately in social media science world regarding ice baths and their efficacy, alot of you are reaching out to me with the same questions.
So let’s break it down.
What’s your goal? For most of my clients, their goal is simple: perform better, think faster, live longer. Ultimately- their goal is to achieve their level of peak performance.
If this is you then you should know that it takes alot of careful planning and deliberate work. There are many levers you need to pull on in order to get to this status and implementing an ice bath routine is just one protocol out of 100’s that can be employed.
Why?
Implementing ice baths into your routine can offer several benefits to help you perform at your best.
By boosting neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, ice baths can improve your focus and attention, allowing you to make better decisions. They also help build mental resilience, essential for tackling challenges and thriving under pressure.
As ice baths increase brown fat density, your metabolism and blood lipid management improve, further enhancing your mental resilience.
Additionally, the surge in dopamine levels from cold exposure promotes mental clarity, alertness, and overall brain performance.
Ultimately, the improved blood flow and perfusion from ice baths support optimal cognitive abilities, ensuring that you're always at the top of your game.
From a hormone perspective:
The science behind cold exposure reveals that ice baths can boost neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and dopamine, which play crucial roles in attention, focus, and mood regulation.
By increasing norepinephrine levels, ice baths can help improve focus and attention, allowing you to concentrate better on tasks and become more productive throughout the day.
The rise in dopamine levels after an ice bath promotes mental clarity and alertness, leading to better overall brain performance. Plus, overcoming the initial discomfort of cold exposure helps build mental resilience for handling challenges.
From a metabolic health perspective:
Ice baths also contribute to improved metabolism and blood flow. By increasing brown fat density, your body enjoys better metabolism, improved blood lipid and insulin management, and enhanced mental resilience.
Vasoconstriction followed by vasodilation during ice baths improves blood flow and perfusion, which is essential for optimal brain function.
Better blood flow = better brain performance!
To reap the brain performance benefits of ice baths, aim for 11 minutes of deliberate cold exposure per week, divided into a few sessions of two to three minutes.
Remember, the key is to get uncomfortably cold while remaining safe.
There are several ways to achieve cold exposure: ice baths, cold showers, swimming in cold water, or applying ice packs to the body.
My take?
Ice baths offer numerous benefits for brain performance, including enhanced focus, attention, mental resilience, and improved metabolism and blood flow. It's time to unlock your full potential and optimize your cognitive function!
Start incorporating ice baths into your routine and experience the powerful impact they can have on your brain performance.
Stay healthy,
Louisa
Want to learn more on the science of cold immersion?
I'm curious as to how long and how cold the immersion needs to be. Two hours, three hours? What is the length of time to get the dopamine effect you mention multiple times. This is what a quick literature search revealed to me:
"A single cold water immersion (head-out, at 14 degrees C, for 1 h) increased sympathetic nervous system activity, as evidenced by a four-fold increase (P < 0.05) in plasma noradrenaline concentration. Plasma adrenaline and dopamine concentrations were not increased significantly."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8891513/