How to Control Your Nervous System the First Time

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It's completely normal to be a little bit fearful before you step into the cold water. Your fear is going to be different depending on where you go in but just thinking about your breathing is probably the key most effective thing for controlling your nervous system. You cannot compare yourself to others so don't compare yourself to your best friend standing next to you who can go in the water and get it get control of their breathing in the first round.

Episode #250. Ice baths and other forms of cold water exposure have gained a huge amount of traction in the past few years. I’m joined by expert Dr Susanna Søberg to examine what the science says – is cold water exposure safe? What does the research say about the bold health claims? Is brown fat just a buzzword? How do you safely and effectively implement hot and cold exposure into your life? Dr Søberg answers these questions and many more in this three-hour deep dive into cold water immersion.

Specifically, we discuss:

Intro (00:00)
The tradition of winter swimming (01:52)
Cold water swimming and activating brown fat (09:44)
Dr. Søburg's personal experience with cold water bathing (23:13)
Funding hurdles and potential benefits of cold water immersion (25:34)
Cold water immersion and the body's response (33:36)
Brown fat activation and more physiological responses (40:45)
What is brown fat? (45:54)
Is brown fat genetic? (55:28)
Benefits of activating brown fat (58:32)
Winter swimming, sauna, and disease: what the data says (1:01:10)
Metabolism and shivering (1:13:01)
Brown fat activation and muscle building (1:25:06)
Who has more brown fat: Women or Men? (1:36:33)
Chronic inflammation, exercise, and more benefits of deliberate cold exposure (1:46:11)
Cold water immersion for beginners (2:06:18)
The minimum threshold for health benefits using cold and heat (2:15:03)
Clothes or no clothes? (2:22:57)
Temperature regulation and gender differences (2:26:30)
Safety protocols & understanding ice plunging lingo (2:34:08)
Outro (2:47:18)

To connect with Dr Susanna Søberg, you can find her on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Head to her website, www.soeberginstitute.com, to learn more about Dr Søberg’s work – including her research and her book Winter Swimming. Friends of The Proof can also receive a 10% discount on her Thermalist course with code SIMONHILL.

Discover more insights and supporting resources in the full show notes.

Enjoy, friends.

Simon

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Simon Hill, MSc, BSc (Hons)

Creator of theproof.com and host of The Proof with Simon Hill

Author of The Proof is in the Plants

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