Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance
Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses deliberate cold exposure's profound effects on mental health, physical performance, and metabolism. He details protocols for safely leveraging cold to boost attention, mood, and focus, reduce inflammation, and enhance athletic output, including specific temperatures, durations, and timing.
Deep Dive Analysis
20 Topic Outline
Introduction to Deliberate Cold Exposure Benefits
Moderate Exercise Boosts Cognitive Performance
Circadian Rhythm of Core Body Temperature
Efficient Body Cooling via Glabrous Skin Surfaces
Mental Benefits of Deliberate Cold Exposure
Determining Optimal Cold Exposure Temperature
Cold Showers vs. Cold Water Immersion Efficacy
Protocols for Building Mental Resilience with Cold
Optimal Mindset and Cognitive Engagement During Cold
Impact of Movement During Cold Exposure
Recommended Frequency for Deliberate Cold Exposure
Cold Exposure's Effect on Dopamine and Mood
Cold Exposure, Metabolism, and Brown Fat
The Soberg Principle: Reheating for Metabolism
Norepinephrine's Direct Action on Fat Cells
Cold Exposure for Physical Performance and Recovery
Glabrous Skin Cooling for Hyperthermia Prevention
Palmar Cooling to Enhance Endurance and Strength Volume
Cold Exposure and Potential Testosterone Increase
Optimal Timing for Daily Cold Exposure
8 Key Concepts
Thermal Regulation
The brain and body's ability to regulate internal core temperature, primarily controlled by the medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus, which acts like a thermostat. Cooling the majority of the body surface can paradoxically increase core temperature as the thermostat registers artificial coolness.
Glabrous Skin Surfaces
Specific body areas like the upper half of the face, palms of the hands, and bottoms of the feet. These surfaces contain unique blood vessels called arteriovenous anastomoses, which allow for efficient heat dumping and rapid reduction of core body temperature.
Resilience/Grit
The ability to maintain mental clarity and calm under conditions of stress, defined by elevated adrenaline and norepinephrine. Deliberate cold exposure provides an opportunity to train this by consciously overriding the body's reflex to escape discomfort.
Eustress
A type of stress associated with increases in norepinephrine and dopamine, but minimal or no increases in cortisol. Deliberate cold exposure appears to create eustress, leading to positive health outcomes rather than the negative effects of distress.
White Fat Cells
These are fat cells primarily used for energy storage, characterized by low metabolic output. They are the type of fat that people generally aim to reduce.
Beige/Brown Fat Cells
These are thermogenic fat cells, rich in mitochondria, that are metabolically active and can increase core body temperature. They act as a furnace to burn calories and can help increase overall metabolism.
Søberg Principle
A principle stating that to maximize metabolic increases from deliberate cold exposure, one should allow the body to reheat naturally afterward. This means avoiding immediate hot showers or saunas to encourage the body's own thermogenic processes.
Pyruvate Kinase
An enzyme essential for muscle contractions. Its function is highly sensitive to temperature, operating within a narrow range. If muscle temperature becomes too high, pyruvate kinase activity is reduced, leading to decreased muscular performance or failure.
13 Questions Answered
The brain's medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus acts as a thermostat, receiving temperature input from the skin and inside the body, and sending signals to heat or cool the body.
Cooling glabrous skin surfaces (palms of hands, bottoms of feet, upper half of face) is most efficient because these areas have unique blood vessel portals (arteriovenous anastomoses) that allow for rapid heat dumping from the body.
Cold water immersion up to the neck with hands and feet submerged is generally more effective due to much higher heat transfer in water compared to air. Cold showers are a good alternative if immersion is not accessible, though less studied.
The temperature should be uncomfortably cold, making you want to get out, but still safe to stay in. This threshold varies by individual, cold tolerance, and even the time of day.
One can either try to calm oneself through controlled breathing or lean into the challenge by engaging in cognitive tasks (like math problems) to maintain mental clarity despite the physiological stress.
Moving around in cold water breaks up the thermal layer that forms around your body, making the experience much colder and providing a more potent stimulus for resilience training.
A threshold of at least 11 minutes total per week, divided into 2-4 sessions, is suggested for metabolic benefits. For mental resilience, vary duration, temperature, or frequency based on perceived 'walls' of resistance.
Yes, studies show significant and long-lasting increases in dopamine concentrations (up to 250% over baseline) after deliberate cold exposure, which contributes to improved mood, energy, and focus.
Yes, it can acutely increase metabolic rate and, over time, convert white fat cells into more metabolically active beige and brown fat cells, leading to lasting increases in core metabolism.
If the primary goal is to increase metabolism, it's best to allow the body to reheat naturally after cold exposure (the Søberg Principle) rather than immediately going into a hot shower or sauna.
If hypertrophy and strength are the main goals, it is probably best to avoid cold water immersion for at least four hours immediately following strength and/or hypertrophy training.
Yes, cooling the palms (or bottoms of feet/upper face) with a cool object between sets of strength training or during endurance exercise can significantly increase work volume and endurance by reducing core body temperature and allowing muscles to function longer.
Early in the day (morning to mid-afternoon) is generally optimal as cold exposure increases core body temperature and alertness, aligning with the natural circadian rhythm for wakefulness. Doing it too late at night can disrupt sleep.
23 Actionable Insights
1. Consult Physician for New Protocols
Before initiating any new behavioral, nutritional, or supplementation protocol, always consult a board-certified physician to ensure it is safe for your individual health status.
2. Progress Gradually with Stimuli
When embarking on new protocols, especially those involving strong stimuli like temperature changes, progress gradually and do not view gradual progression as a weak version of the protocol.
3. Find Minimum Effective Stimulus
Aim to find the minimum threshold of stimulus that allows you to derive the maximum benefit from each protocol, as the most potent stimulus isn’t always the most intense in the moment.
4. Optimal Body Cooling Surfaces
To cool down quickly and efficiently, apply cold to glabrous skin surfaces: the upper half of the face, palms of your hands, and bottoms of your feet, as these areas allow heat to leave the body more readily.
5. General Cold Exposure Intensity
When engaging in deliberate cold exposure, choose an environment that is uncomfortably cold, making you want to get out, but where you can safely remain without risking your health.
6. DCE for Mental Resilience (Walls)
To build mental toughness and grit, use the ‘counting walls’ protocol: identify the sensations of resistance (walls) that arise during cold exposure and deliberately stay in for a set number of walls before exiting, training your prefrontal cortex to control reflexes under stress.
7. DCE for Metabolism (11 Min/Week)
For increased core metabolism and brown fat stores, aim for at least 11 minutes of deliberate cold exposure total per week, divided into two to four sessions.
8. Maximize Metabolic Gains (Soberg Principle)
To achieve the greatest increases in metabolism from deliberate cold exposure, end your session with cold and allow your body to reheat naturally, avoiding immediate warm showers or saunas afterward.
9. Induce Shiver for Metabolism
To further increase metabolism and activate brown fat thermogenesis, ensure your deliberate cold exposure induces shivering, either during the session or immediately afterward, as shivering releases succinate which activates brown fat.
10. DCE Modality Effectiveness
For maximum effectiveness, cold water immersion up to the neck with hands and feet submerged is most potent, followed by cold showers, and then exposure to cold air with minimal clothing.
11. Moderate Exercise Before Cognitive Work
Before engaging in cognitive work requiring focus and working memory, perform 15 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (Zone 2 cardio) to enhance energy, visual attentional control, and perceptual speed.
12. NSDR/Meditation After Learning
Following a learning or cognitive work bout, engage in mindfulness meditation or non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) protocols to enhance neuroplasticity and facilitate memory encoding and learning.
13. Maintain Cognitive Clarity During DCE
While in deliberate cold exposure, engage in cognitive tasks like math problems or recalling challenging information to train your prefrontal cortex to stay engaged and maintain mental clarity despite physiological stress.
14. Move During Cold Exposure
To increase the potency of the cold stimulus and enhance mental resilience training, move your body continuously while in cold water to break up the thermal layer and experience it as colder.
15. Glabrous Skin Cooling During Exercise
To increase work volume and endurance during strength or endurance training, hold a cool (but not vasoconstricting) object in your palms for 1-2 minutes between sets to efficiently reduce core body temperature and muscle heat.
16. Glabrous Skin Cooling for Hyperthermia
In cases of exercise-induced hyperthermia, rapidly cool the palms of the hands, bottoms of the feet, and upper face using cool rags or ice packs (not so cold as to cause vasoconstriction) to efficiently reduce core body temperature.
17. Avoid DCE After Strength Training
If your primary goal is muscle hypertrophy and strength gains, avoid cold water immersion or ice baths for at least four hours immediately following strength or hypertrophy training sessions to prevent potential inhibition of these gains.
18. DCE After Endurance/Skill Training
For recovery and improved performance after high-intensity endurance, sprint, interval, or skill training, deliberate cold exposure (cold immersion or showers) is beneficial for reducing soreness and improving training efficacy.
19. DCE Timing to Avoid Sleep Disruption
Perform deliberate cold exposure early in the day, as it increases core body temperature and alertness; avoid doing it too late in the evening or at night, as this can disrupt the natural temperature drop needed for deep sleep.
20. Combine Fasting with DCE
For enhanced effects on metabolism and resilience, perform deliberate cold exposure while in a fasted state, as baseline norepinephrine and epinephrine levels are already elevated during fasting.
21. Combine Caffeine with DCE for Dopamine
To maximize dopamine’s effects on mood and focus, ingest 300mg of caffeine (about 2-3 cups of coffee) 60-120 minutes before deliberate cold exposure, as caffeine increases the density and efficacy of dopamine receptors.
22. Daily Electrolyte Hydration
Ensure proper hydration and electrolyte balance by dissolving one packet of Element in 16-32 ounces of water first thing in the morning and during physical exercise.
23. Use Meditation/NSDR App
Utilize meditation apps like Waking Up, which offer various meditation programs, mindfulness trainings, yoga nidra, and NSDR protocols, to manage mental states and enhance cognitive and physical energy.
5 Key Quotes
If you are using deliberate cold exposure, the environment that you place yourself into should place your mind into a state of, whoa, I would really like to get out of this environment, but I can stay in safely.
Andrew Huberman
It's not just about the state that we are in, it's about the state that we are in and whether or not we had anything to do with placing ourselves into that state and whether or not we did that on purpose or not.
Andrew Huberman (quoting David Spiegel)
Cold is a non-negotiable stimulus for increasing epinephrine and norepinephrine.
Andrew Huberman
If you're one of those people that likes to look tough or really relaxed while you're in the ice bath or cold water immersion, just realize that you're actually cheating yourself out of part of the stimulus.
Andrew Huberman
The most potent stimulus isn't always the one that you experience as the most intense in the moment.
Andrew Huberman
4 Protocols
Building Mental Resilience (Walls Method)
Andrew Huberman- Choose a cold temperature (shower or immersion) that is uncomfortably cold but safe to stay in.
- Before starting, set a designated number of 'walls' you intend to traverse. A 'wall' is the sensation of wanting to get out due to the surge of norepinephrine/epinephrine.
- The first wall is often the act of getting into the cold environment itself.
- Pay attention to when subsequent 'walls' (surges of adrenaline/resistance) arrive.
- Stay in the cold for even just 10 seconds longer than when a wall arrives, consciously overcoming the urge to exit.
- Exit the cold once you have traversed your designated number of walls, ensuring safety.
- Vary the number of walls, temperature, or duration across sessions to continually challenge yourself and prevent adaptation.
Enhancing Metabolism (Søberg Principle & Shivering)
Andrew Huberman (referencing Dr. Susanna Soberg)- Engage in deliberate cold exposure (e.g., cold shower or immersion) at an uncomfortably cold but safe temperature.
- Aim to reach the point of shivering either during or immediately after the cold exposure.
- To induce shivering, after a period in cold water (e.g., 1-3 minutes), turn off the water and stand with limbs extended in cool air, allowing evaporative cooling.
- If shivering doesn't occur, re-enter the cold water and repeat the process.
- Always end your cold exposure session with cold, allowing your body to reheat naturally without immediately going into a hot shower or sauna (Søberg Principle).
Palmer Cooling for Enhanced Physical Performance
Andrew Huberman (referencing Dr. Craig Heller)- Obtain a relatively cool object (e.g., two bottles filled with cold water and a few ice cubes, or a pack of frozen blueberries/broccoli). Ensure it's not so cold that it causes vasoconstriction (blood vessel collapse).
- During rest periods between sets of strength training or during breaks in endurance exercise, place the palms of your hands (and ideally bottoms of feet) on the cool surface.
- Maintain contact with the cool surface for approximately 1-2 minutes between sets.
- Return to your exercise sets. This protocol helps reduce core body temperature, allowing muscles to perform more work volume and potentially push through plateaus.
Combined Protocol for Dopamine & Alertness
Andrew Huberman- Ingest 300 milligrams of caffeine (e.g., 2-3 cups of coffee) 60 to 120 minutes before your deliberate cold exposure session.
- Engage in deliberate cold exposure (cold shower or immersion) at an uncomfortably cold but safe temperature.
- This combination aims to increase the density and efficacy of dopamine receptors, allowing the dopamine released by cold exposure to have a greater and longer-lasting effect on mood, focus, and alertness. (Optional: Perform this while fasted for potentially greater norepinephrine increase.)