Patrick Gunther
How I got My Start
I have been cold plunging nearly daily now for over 6 months. I first started the practice thinking it could help me lose weight, as I had read the research regarding turning white fat into brown fat, thus helping you to burn calories more efficiently. So, I added it to my lifestyle changes of a better diet (more whole foods) and more exercise. I did lose weight; in fact, I have lost about 25 lbs. However, I do not know how much of it to attribute to cold plunging. My regular routine would be to have a soak in my portable Ice Pod for 15 minutes at home each day (during the summer months I could not get my ice bath any cooler than about 58 degrees, by adding about 30 frozen water bottles to my bath, so this was easy for me). The results I got after my plunge quickly became more about relaxation, enhanced mental health, and the better sleep that I was able to attain after plunging.
Contrast Therapy
After about 3 months of using my Ice Pod at home, I got a membership to Jiko Life in Draper, Utah and then later to Plunj in Saratoga Springs, Utah. This added a sauna to my routine, which being used in tandem is termed “contrasts therapy”.
My Routine
I would spend 10-15 minutes in a 200- to 220-degree sauna, which got me sweating and my heart rate up to around 160 bpm, and then I would exit the sauna and rest for about 5 minutes, to allow my heart to get down to a more normalized rate before taking a bucket shower and entering the cold plunge. I enjoyed the camaraderie and the sense of community feel of the venue I was coming to enjoy more and more as time went on. This was my “tribe”.
How Long in the Cold Plunge – is This Safe, or a Little on the Reckless Side?
The cold plunge was generally in the 42- to 48-degree range. My general practice on a nightly basis (this became my nightly wind-down routine, and excellent preparation for sleep) was to follow my sauna-ing by 15 minutes of cold plunging, no matter how cold the cold plunge got. And, sometimes the chiller in the establishment would get the water to as low as 39-degrees. If the cold plunge stayed in the 47- to 48-degree range, I found I had enough stamina to stay in for up to 30 minutes. I was extremely proud of myself, and felt like the more the better. However, the data suggests that anything cooler than 60 degree and more than 11 minutes per week (not per time!) was overkill, and has diminishing returns.
I Thought I was the Next Wim Hof
All was going well, and I ignored my wife’s voicing of her concerns at how long I was engaging in ice water immersion therapy, because I knew how good it made me feel after a plunge, and even if it had diminishing returns to stay in the cold plunge for the typical 15 minutes twice per hour session each night, I loved the comments I would get: “How do you do that?”, “Wow, you are locked in!”, “I can’t believe you stay in there that long!”, “We are witnessing greatness!” And, just the challenge and mental toughness that I thought I was developing spurred me on to keep on keeping on, despite my wife’s misgivings about it. But, one night gave me pause. The water was 39-degrees. I took my typical 15-minute soak, much to the chagrin of my fingers and toes, which became extremely painful. No worries, I had a 215-degree sauna at my disposal as soon as I exited! I felt wonderful for having accomplished this, and really thought nothing of it. That is until later that night.
Then, This Happened…
That night, I woke up about 15 times to urinate. I could not sleep. I could not regulate my temperature. Usually, it did not take that long for me to get my body temperature regulated. I might shiver a little bit in the car on my way home (I had gotten to the point where I hardly shivered at all during the actual cold-water immersion itself), but I would quickly warm up with the car heater and the seat warmer up full blast. I could not get warm even under blankets. I started to worry, and that caused me to spiral into a panic attack. I got up, because I could not sleep (the constant urination was not helping), and I tried to get my mind off things. I checked my blood pressure, which had spiked to 180/100. Shoot! I am a bit of a hypochondriac, so I started to become alarmed, and wondered if I had taken things too far. I read up on what I may have done to my body, and learned that the cold had caused my kidneys to go into overdrive filtering the blood that was rushing to keep my organs warm, thus causing a spike in my blood pressure, and I developed what was called cold diuresis (constant urination). That may have also been followed up with a UTI (urinary tract infection) because it took a few days for my bladder to dial down from being so overactive.
Putting Cold Plunge Safety First: Time to Re-Evaluate My Approach
All of this to say that I had to admit to myself that I am not superhuman, and I need to be more moderate about my approach. You can get too much of a good thing. I still love to cold plunge, and I still engage in contrast therapy nightly, but I limit myself to 5 minutes at a time in the cold plunge, instead of forcing myself to go 15. I also give myself more time for rest, and allow my body to warm up normally before jumping back into the sauna. Overall, I would say that this is a much healthier approach, and I have not sacrificed any of the positive effects I was feeling from (2) 15 -minute sessions of being immersed in ice water per hour at night. I still get the very relaxed feeling (caused by the boost of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine – almost like I am on Valium), boosted mood, and amazing sleep at night. I feel like I am being much safer by taking this moderated approach to cold plunging and contrast therapy. I hope this helps someone. Unless, of course, there are not too many people out there that would even be ambitious/crazy enough to overdue cold plunging. Most people I meet seem smart enough to only engage for 30 seconds to 5 minutes, anyway…
