labuznik

Listening to The Huberman Lab podcast on deliberate cold exposure, I learned something quite surprising.  

The best place to put something cool or cold on the body to bring your temperature down if you are overheated (risk of hyperthermia) is NOT the back of the neck or chest.  Why?  Because of the medial preoptic of the hypothalamus.  It’s our body’s thermostat.  Putting something cool on the surface of the skin when you are hot is like putting a bag of ice on the thermostat of your home.  The thermostat would register the environment as cool and try to heat things up.  This, too, will happen to your body.

If you or someone is at risk for hyperthermia (too hot), place something cold on the glabrous skin regions, i.e., the bottoms of the feet, the palms of the hands, and or the upper half of the face.  Those skin surfaces have a unique vasculature located in only those parts of the body.  These distinctive areas are called Glabrous Skin regions and allow the body to get rid of heat quickly.  They also do the same to warm you up if hypothermia (too cold) is a risk.  For a more in-depth and scientific explanation, listen to the podcast.

This is why many cold plungers will have on thin neoprene socks or shoes and or gloves. However, I wonder if they know the scientific reasoning behind why they are doing it.  When in extreme cold, covering these areas makes the plunge just a bit more tolerable.

Actress Katee Sackhoff, who played Bo-Katan Kryze in the hit TV show The Mandalorian, posted a video to her IG page, saying that feet and hand protection while in a cold plunge was a game changer for her.  And this is why!

After learning about the glabrous skin regions, I have played around with taking my gloves off during a cold plunge and letting them fall to the sides of my body, where the water is noticeably colder the farther down you go.  Granted, it’s the summer, and I’m in 55°F water and have no control over the temperature (IE the Puget Sound).  But after my bare hands have been in the water for a minute or two, I feel noticeably colder.

Stay tuned for more posts on my Cold Plunge Journey