Your Brain on Generator
Contrast Therapy (Hot/Cold) and Its Effects On Your Most Valuable Asset: Your Brain
Ever leave Generator with a sense of clarity? That question or concern that’s been racking your brain has seemingly worked itself out. You’re calm, yet vigilant, focused, while effortlessly multi-tasking – somehow, these paradoxical states have become your actualized experience. Personally, I feel generally happier, more conversational, and patient, and find that I’m most productive in the hours immediately following #TheProtocol. There’s a reason high performers – whether they be athletes, special forces operators, C-suite executives, or creatives – are flocking to contrast therapy, and discovering new ways to get extremely hot and miserably cold. While the physical effects of contrast therapy often take center-stage, the most profound effects might be happening between your ears.
What is contrast hydrotherapy (water therapy)? It is simply alternating from cold water to hot water and, at Generator, the temperatures are a chilly 49 degrees, and a balmy 107 degrees both in jetted tubs. Our protocol begins with 30 minutes in our full spectrum infrared sauna, followed by 3 rounds of alternating in between the hot and cold tubs for 3 minutes in each, ending with vibration and compression therapy.
Why did we choose water as our thermal conductor and therapy and not air? Water is a MUCH better thermal conductor than air, at least 20x so. Ever wonder why 50-degree water is SOOOO much colder than 50-degree air? This is the reason. The heat escapes your body much more easily and quickly in cold water than if you were standing in cold air because the water takes the heat more quickly from your body. Throw some jets on and you’re in for a chilly experience. Why? Jets dissipate the heat given off by your body away from your body not allowing your body to heat up. Brrrr.
Why would we ever do this to ourselves, you ask? This crazy thing often referred to as an ‘ice bath’, or ‘cold plunge’, or ‘cold water therapy’, followed by a hot tub and then back and forth, also referred to as ‘fire and ice’! Only to start in a hot sauna, I might add. Who are these crazy people and why do we continue to do this to ourselves?
Don’t feel like diving into the details? Here’s a cheat sheet of what’s being produced inside your brain during contrast therapy:
Heat & Cold – Norepinephrine – a hormone/neurotransmitter responsible for increased vigilance, focus, attention, and mood
Heat – BDNF, “Miracle-Gro” for your brain – promotes growth of new brain cells, enhances learning and memory, combats cognitive decline and depression
Heat – Prolactin – makes your brain function faster, promotes myelin growth that repairs nerve cells in your brain
Heat – Beta-Endorphins – your body’s “feel-good” chemical, suppresses pain
Cold – Dopamine – stimulates your body’s pleasure and reward systems, facilitates learning, increased motivation and mood
Cold – RBM3 – a cold shock protein that regenerates damaged brain cells, boosts memory, and prevents cognitive decline
Norepinephrine
When it comes to one’s physiological and neurological responses to the fluctuations in temperature induced by contrast therapy, the star of the show is undoubtedly, norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is both a hormone and a neurotransmitter and it’s what’s responsible for that feeling of increased vigilance, focus, attention, and mood that you get after your time in the sauna and/or hot and cold tubs. Exposure to both extreme heat and cold have been scientifically proven to increase norepinephrine levels significantly – as high as 500%. Better yet, the increased levels of norepinephrine, and that fully optimized version of yourself that comes along with it, have been shown to last for up to an hour after exposure. Norepinephrine is also a powerful combatant against inflammation, depression, and attention deficit disorders, which is why many of the most prominent drugs prescribed to battle these ailments are norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. Hot and cold stressors present a compelling case as therapeutic alternatives to prescription drugs, and while you may not suffer from such conditions it’s hard to ignore the fact that norepinephrine plays a pivotal role in you becoming, and remaining, the best version of yourself.
Heat
Increasing your core temperature in short bursts, or “hyperthermic conditioning”, has been found to mimic many of the same effects on your brain as intense exercise. As your body heats up, your brain experiences elevated levels of blood flow and increased production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. BDNF, a protein found in many parts of your brain, is extremely active in the hippocampus – the part of your brain responsible for learning efficiency and long-term memory – and is commonly referred to as “Miracle-Gro” for your brain due to its role in promoting neurogenesis. Neurogenesis is the process in which new neurons grow – new brain cells means an optimized, enhanced brain, and one that is less susceptible to cognitive decline and depression.
A hormone that experiences an even greater rate of increase than norepinephrine during exposure to extreme heat is prolactin – up to 900%. Prolactin is pivotal in the process of myelin growth in your brain, which repairs nerve cell damage and makes your brain operate more efficiently.
We hear a lot about endorphins in relation to that “high” feeling you get after a good workout. In fact, they are often referred to as our body’s “feel-good” chemical. Beta-endorphins, which are responsible for suppressing pain responses in your brain, are significantly increased during exposure to extreme heat. Each of the above reactions your brain has in response to extreme heat can also be achieved through intense physical activity. Want to supercharge these reactions? Combine your #TheProtocol sessions with a workout.
Cold
In conjunction with the radical increase in norepinephrine production during cold therapy, short periods of mild hypothermia also activate a release of dopamine in your brain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that acts as a chemical messenger to the pleasure and reward systems in our brain. It plays a big part in what makes us human and what gives us that satisfactory feeling that accompanies planning, and task-completion. In short, dopamine release helps us strive, it makes us better learners and generally more interested in doing so.
The final ingredient of our brain optimizing cocktail that’s concocted during cold therapy, is the cold shock protein, RBM3. Even mild exposure to cold causes a rapid uptick in RBM3 activity in our brains. Synapses, the pathways through which our brain cells communicate, are responsible for how we form memories. Unfortunately, synapses can get damaged and even disappear. Luckily for us, RBM3 reacts with the part of our neurons that utilizes these synapses and boosts their productivity. The more RBM3 that is present in our brains, the better these cold shock proteins are able to stimulate damaged or degenerated synapses. RBM3 has been shown to not only repair and recreate synapses, but also regenerate neurons, preventing cognitive decline.
Cold therapy is also a proven powerful anti-inflammatory and can be used to treat depression. Though studies have only recently made their way to the forefront, cold therapy has been a practice to treat depression and promote lucidity across cultures for centuries. So, want to become a quicker and more passionate learner, boost your mood, and fight neurodegeneration? Just get cold.
From an anecdotal standpoint, my personal experience with contrast therapy and #TheProtocol is enough to keep me coming back to the sauna and hot and cold tubs. It can be difficult to verbalize one’s feeling they have after exposure to these extreme temperatures, yet with science-backed evidence we’re reassured that these modalities do in fact deliver us to an optimized state. Increased mood, a sharper and more resolute mental state, longevity for your brain – these are a few things we as humans unanimously seek, and now you know another way in which they can be attained.
Although these therapies sound a bit ‘out there’ to some, they are becoming much more mainstream these days and are benefitting so many people in various ways. Decreasing inflammation is not only important for your body in order to physically perform better, it’s arguably more important for your brain to mentally perform better and be healthier overall.
We would love to invite you to try a recovery day with us. What do you have to lose?