Effects of Cold Exposure on Mental Health
Did you know that cold exposure, when done correctly, is a great tool to improve mental health and practice resilience to stress? Deliberate cold exposure is one of the oldest tools that humans have used for health purposes. From simply icing a local area, to full body immersion in cold water, cold exposure comes in many various forms. Deliberate cold exposure refers to when someone voluntarily takes steps to lower their body temperature by cooling the environment around them.
How does it work?
When you deliberately expose yourself to cold temperatures, in a stress response, your body releases certain neurotransmitters and hormones that can have a positive impact on your mood and cognitive attention. These neurotransmitters include dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine (noradrenaline).
Dopamine: A neurotransmitter commonly misunderstood as the molecule of pleasure, dopamine is actually in charge of motivation, pursuit, and reward.
Epinephrine (Adrenaline): A hormone part of your “fight-or-flight” response. Epinephrine plays a smaller role in attention, focus, excitement, and panic. It is released in response to stress.
Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline): A neurotransmitter part of your “fight-or-flight” response. Norepinephrine increases your alertness and attention, helps maintain blood pressure in times of stress, and affects your mood and memory.
People use these stress responses to train their mental state so that they can better cope with stressful events in their lives. The elevation of these neurotransmitters and hormones has lasting effects on mood, cognitive attention, and energy. Additionally, deliberate cold exposure is used as a stressor there are no significant increases in cortisol. This is a big deal because it means that the stress that's experienced in deliberate cold exposure is all healthy. Increased levels of cortisol in stressful situations can be harmful as it can suppress your immune system.
Forms of cold exposure:
Different forms of cold exposure can include cold immersion, cold showers, and cold walks. What method is right for you differs based on accessibility and cold tolerance.
Cold immersion: Cold immersion is fairly simple and is the most effective form of deliberate cold exposure. It can be done in your bathtub if you just fill it up with cold water, and maybe even add ice if needed. Depending on the environment you are in, and the time of the year, you may be able to safely get into a cold lake or river, and get your cold exposure in that way. Another option is to buy a cold plunge tub. Tubs vary in price as some more expensive ones use electricity to cool the water, and other cheaper options require ice to cool the water. When doing cold immersion, you want to make sure to submerge your whole body up to the neck, along with your hands and feet.
Cold shower: Cold showers are the second most effective method. Simply taking your morning shower in water that is uncomfortably cold is a great way to start your day. It will boost your mood, energy, and attention to help get you ready for the day.
Cold walks: Cold walks are the least effective stimulus as the heat transfer is far less in the air than it is in water. Cold walks are as simple as they sound. Depending on your environment and the time of year, you may be able to take a walk outside in cool weather wearing a minimal amount of clothing that is culturally appropriate. While being the least effective, it can still be a great stimulus.
What time of day is most effective?
While there are many protocols that you can find online, here are some basic guidelines.
First of all, you should try to only do cold exposure in the morning to early afternoon. This is because it will have a net warming effect on your core body temperature. As your body tries to warm back up after being cold, you end up with a higher core body temperature than before. This is bad because raising your core body temperature causes you to be more awake and alert which is bad too close to bedtime. According to your circadian rhythm, your body temperature is supposed to drop off in the late afternoon and evening.
How cold?
As for how cold it should be, it varies greatly from person to person based on their cold tolerance and a number of other different factors. In general, you should feel like you really want to get out of the cold environment, but you can stay in safely. A simple rule of thumb is to pretend you are in a warm shower. Now start turning down the warm and turning up the cold. You will reach a threshold where it would feel uncomfortable. If you make it a bit colder you would really want to get out, but you could stay in safely. That would be a good temperature for you.
How long?
It is important to note that generally the colder the stimulus, the less time you should be exposing yourself. A study showed significant increases in norepinephrine and dopamine after subjects were submerged up to the neck in fairly cold (60°F) water for about an hour. Another study showed similar increases in norepinephrine and dopamine after subjects were submerged in very cold (40°F) water for just 20 seconds. The point is, how long you stay in should depend on the stimulus.
How often?
A consistent weekly protocol starts at just eleven minutes per week. This should not be done all in one session but should be split up across the week. This could include two to four sessions lasting one to five minutes each. However, the most important thing when following a protocol is to be consistent.
Cognitive Function:
While doing your cold exposure, it is also a great opportunity to train your mind. When you come into contact with the cold stimulus, you will immediately notice a decline in cognitive function. With this decline, you can push yourself to recall bits of information, or maybe quiz yourself on something you recently learned. This will help you improve your ability to think when life presents stressful situations.
Conclusion:
Regularly exposing yourself to a cold stimulus is one of the safest and most efficient ways to build resilience to stress. It also helps improve mood, cognitive function, and energy. While deliberate cold exposure has many great physical benefits, not everyone is aware of the great effects it could have on your mental health.
Sources:
“Benefits of Cold Exposure.” MovementLink Gym, 14 Oct. 2022, movementlink. fit/the-movementlink-method/benefits-of-cold-exposure#:~:text=Cold%20exposure%20causes%20dopamine%20and. Accessed 12 July 2024.
Huberman, Andrew. “Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance | Huberman Lab Podcast #66.” YouTube, 4 Apr. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq6WHJzOkno.
Cleveland Clinic. “Norepinephrine: What It Is, Function, Deficiency & Side Effects.” Cleveland Clinic, 27 Mar. 2022, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22610-norepinephrine-noradrenaline.
Cleveland Clinic. “Epinephrine (Adrenaline).” Cleveland Clinic, 27 Mar. 2022, my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22611-epinephrine-adrenaline.