Sauna & cold plunge for maximum benefit!
A true, old fashioned Finnish sauna. The three levels to sit or lay down, the hot stones, almost entirely wood to remain well insulated and absorb the sweat and a slow pour ladle with a bucket of water to increase the heat as necessary. “They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.” Haha. They do, but much harder to find in my experience. These days most only have one or two levels even if everything else is the same.
A beautiful walk-in cold plunge. Most people will find it’s easier to get your entire body in if you have one you can step down versus laying down into one. With the bath-like set ups you have to lay back.
The popularity of using Saunas and cold plunges / cold showers AKA hot and cold therapy have taken the world by storm largely thanks to the influence of social media. Naturally when things get big on social media some of the essence of the practice is lost. This has largely happened with the use of sauna and cold plunge in the US in my experience.
First things first. It’s important to understand the Thermoregulatory system. This system regulates your internal body temperature. It aims to maintain your internal body temp regardless of the temperature outside of your body. It is the most energy consumptive system in the body.
The issues…
1 - Most people here in the states are using the infrared sauna. This doesn’t produce the same effect in the body as the old fashioned dry, Finnish style sauna.
2 - The cold is much more taxing on the body than the heat. Going down from 50 degrees to 49 degrees is a bigger demand on the thermoregulatory system than going from 179 degrees to 180 degrees. As stated above the thermoregulatory system is the most energy consumptive system in the body.
3 - Not having a goal in the use of the hot & cold therapy. That’s like going to the gym and not knowing whether you want to build muscle, aerobic capacity, flexibility, coordination etc. As the saying goes “if you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.” It’s essential to have a goal with your use of hot & cold therapy
THE SOLUTIONS
Know your goal. “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will get you there.” This is why it’s essential to know what are the benefits you’re looking for from the cold plunge. Common choices are
General relaxation
Exercise benefits, faster recovery / improved performance
Quickly increase your energy
Cutting weight for a sport (sauna specifically)
GENERAL RELAXATION
Minimum temperature of 158, but work up to 175 or higher ASAP. The greatest benefits happen right around 175 and higher.
In this situation it is essential that your sauna session isn’t rushed. You can use infrared sauna for a short amount of time, 10 to 20 minutes and get relaxation benefits, but your state of relaxation won’t be as deep and restful as doing a full Finnish sauna protocol. A great starting point. for a full Finnish sauna protocol is 3 to 4 rounds of 15 to 20 minutes in the sauna with as short of a break as possible in between. The more comfortable you are with the sauna the longer you can stay in each round. If you’re very comfortable in the sauna you may do something like 3 rounds for 30 minutes each. The length of time you can stay in is going to be heavily influenced by the temperature. In a Finnish sauna it should not be affected by the humidity! Humidity needs to be 10% or lower or else it’s not a truly DRY sauna. A “hygrometer” can be easily purchased if you wish to test this in any sauna you’re using. Aim to finish your session with a cool or lukewarm shower. The goal here is to use as cold of water as you can WITHOUT having an elevation of heart rate when getting exposed to the water. When your heart rate rises in response to the water it’s too cold for what it is being used for post sauna session. The rest of your day should be very relaxing. No big meals, no nicotine, no alcohol, ideally no work, just relaxation until bedtime.
2 - Faster recovery from exercise / improved performance
Maximum temperature of 50 degrees.
There are two ways to approach this. For faster recovery from exercise the best thing is to immediately expose yourself to the cold water after your training session. BE AWARE that if you’re aiming to build muscle that this will dampen your muscle gains so I don’t recommend it in that scenario. If you’re a performance athlete or aiming to be able to do another training session ASAP then exposing to cold water right after sessions is ideal as long as you aren’t aiming to increase muscle mass. A great tool for those in weight class sports or sports where more weight isn’t always optimal yet simultaneously have high training frequency. Martial arts, distance runners, rowers, figure skating and gymnastics are all great examples.
If your goal is to perform at a higher level during your training sessions, such as increasing sets or reps then exposing to the cold is ideal right before the session. In this situation it will not have the dampening effect on hypertrophy (muscle building).
Temperature. Athletes generally will be able to go higher with temperature, Work up to as high as you comfortably can without the “burn” effect (this is where the ears or parts of the body start to feel burnt AFTER sauna sessions are over.
For the sauna it is best to use it in the evening. While the sun is setting is a great time as it’ll stimulate the body to release growth hormone among other hormones that influence relaxation in the body. This will lead to a higher quality of sleep and improved recovery from exercise due to the growth hormone.
3 - Quickly increase energy level
Both the sauna and cold plunge can be used for a quick increase of energy
The infrared for 10 to 20 minutes. Temperature 115 degrees or less. (Goal is to accelerate the heart rate slightly)
The Finnish sauna 10 to 20 minutes. Duration depends on temperature. (Goal is to accelerate the heart slightly)
Cold water exposure for 2 minutes or longer. Duration depends on temperature. This will feel like a natural caffeine shot. (Goal is to increase specific hormone production. Stress hormones and dopamine. Also stimulate cold shock proteins) One of the biggest benefits of cold water exposure vs Sauna exposure is that it takes much less exposure time to get the release of the cold shock proteins vs the heat shock proteins.
4 - Cutting weight for a sport
I strongly recommend against this for anyone not participating in a sport that is paying their bills or they plan on having pay the bills. This is not ideal from a health perspective. What you will be doing is movement while in the sauna, abstaining from water and food and in plain terms… having a torturous time. It is a way that allows for weight to be shed quickly though.
Application of information = knowledge as power. Take this info and implement it!
Health & wholeness be with you,
David
