Not so very long ago, a cold plunge into a bath of ice cubes was used in mental hospitals as a punishment for people considered insane.
Yet, with many celebrities like Tony Robbins, Lady Gaga, and Madonna, and, of course, Wim Hof, known as ‘Iceman’, raving about the health benefits of ice cube baths, you may feel like you are missing the experience of a lifetime.
OTHER OPINIONS
Dr Stacy Sims, a leading expert in Women’s Health, says that while she is a big fan of saunas for detoxing she is less enthusiastic about the trend of plunging into ice cube freezing water for women. Turns out it decreases metabolic activity and alters hormone production in the female body.
“We are not small men,” she says. She warns that the effects on women are very different then those on men. “It’s way too cold for women,” Sims states. “When women get into water that is between zero and 4 degrees it’s way too cold for their bodies to understand that it’s a temporary stress. We experience hypothermia, a severe condition in which the body is unable to maintain normal heat. Severe hypothermia can result in heart failure and death. We don’t have the same kind of shivering response as men, which is the natural way to produce heat.”
Kelly does promote the health benefits of dipping in cold water but just avoid the polar bear plunge, she advises.
The ‘National Center For Cold Water Safety’ warns that sudden immersion in ice water can kill a person in less then a minute.
Attention was brought to the potential danger of ice plunging when, in 2023, 39 year old Kellie Poole suffered sudden cardiac death during a retreat called ‘Breatheolution’, held by her mother. She had complained of a headache after entering the ice water. The senior coroner who examined her has since called for a crackdown on the growing cold water immersion industry. He criticizes the lack of regulation around such retreats.
KEEPING IT NATURAL
When I was living on our commune in Tennessee back in the 1970’s, we had 80 acres of land with fields, a pond, a black walnut forest with a floor of Lady’s Slippers, and a spring head that pooled, before it flowed into a creek. The spring head emerged from an underground aquifer. Cold, natural water bubbling up out of the ground is one of the most romantic, beautiful and archetypal gifts from the Creator. Living off the grid, we used it to hand haul water up the hill to our chestnut log cabin for all our drinking and cooking needs.
We also used to hang around it in the summer after working in the garden all day. It’s water kept at a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit as the ground acted as an insulator 365 days of the year.
One of our favorite pastimes in the winter was to fire up the wood stove to sauna temp, then race down the hill, dip into to the cold water (and I mean just a quick dip), then race back up the hill to the hot house, grab a towel, and stand by the stove. We got the biggest kick out of the whole idea as each of us would take a turn, calling it our “Miami Vacation”. All that exertion felt great and broke up the long cold grey winter days.
FINDING THE TRUTH
It’s true that cold water immersion has it’s roots in many ancient civilizations over thousand of years. Mainly in a long history used for building warrior willpower.
Today you can buy Warrior cold plunge kits in a wide price range. But keep in mind: The ice cube was only invented in 1930 and the mass produced ice cube tray came much later. So you may want to think twice before you sign up for a ice cube plunge retreat or purchase a ‘home chill bundle’ from the web. You may be doing yourself more harm than good. And healing is always about doing yourself the most good.
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“Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart”.
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