Any ice bathers on Nostr? I’m curious about people’s experience with longer plunges. I did 30 minutes in 50 degrees (10C) a few days ago and found it to be deeply meditative. Took me a small hour to warm up after.
Discussion
I couldn't handle more than 3 minutes at about 5C . I didn't push it, though. But I guess the impact is non-linear and 5C is actually much more severe than 10C.
I'm a noob, who recently discovered cold showers 🤣
Done a lot, But never that long. Normally around 10mins. The real game with cold therapy is when its cold outside as well 🥶
That’s hard to try as I’m living in Texas 😄 One day I will!
30 mins?! seems extreme.. it doesn’t take much to initiate the sympathetic nervous system where be benefits arise from.
Been doing cold plunge off and on for a long time, my sweet spot is 10-15 mins. Like anything there can be “too-much-of-a-good-thing” abuse.
Shit... I haven't done anything that long! I reckon 30min at 10min would feel fine. I do 5min at 5°c every day and the max I've done is 10min at 5°c which was enough for me...freaks me out after that my HR goes down to 48bpm lol
I find that my tolerance for time goes up a lot at the higher temperatures. Been playing with that as I’m also looking at the ice bath as an alternative way to meditate.
Have you heard of the 12hour challenge? If not you should listen to it on Joe Rogan with Colin O'brady(great episode). I'm yet to try it but it is on my list of things to do. Basically go for a 12hr walk and disconnect, no music, podcast etc. Be alone with your thoughts for 12 hours apparently it can get you into an extreme meditative state.
Wow!! I don’t think I’ve done over 10-15 minutes. Often plunge in ice lakes so very cold temps. Do you feel the longer time lead to a deeper meditative state or was it consistent after initial settling and adjustment.
After about 10-12 minutes the meditative state deepened significantly for me. After that it’s hard to say, as I wasn’t thinking that much 😄
Nice! You should try 4 rounds of the basic Wim Hof breathing protocol as well. A great way to enter a deep meditative state where time and ego disappears.
And for reference the Wim Hof technique is a simplified version of Tibetan tummo meditation.
11 minutes at 38 Fahrenheit is my max, usually do five minutes. The closer you get to 32 the harder it is.
Yeah agreed the closer you get to 32 it gets almost exponentially harder
I’ve been taking daily ice baths for about 4 weeks now. Usually I do 8-10 mins. For this one:
- I wore a hat
- kept my hands in the water for only about 5 mins, outside for the rest
- lifted feet out after about 10 mins (heels stayed in)
- deep relaxation kicked in after 10 minutes, felt like I could stay in forever. Skin was just comfortably numb. My breathing slowed down a lot, e.g. after the full exhale I would “sit” for 20 seconds before beginning to inhale again.
- I never shivered, but decided to get out after moving my fingers and feeling strong tingling in my forearm muscles.
- I shivered a lot after getting out, hot shower really helped.
Started last month. Couple times a week at 0 c for 3 minutes. Longest was 5:30. The effects are immediate and profound. Never found it meditative, but my temp is too cold to stay in for longer than 5 minutes.
Still getting started. Never stayed in the water more than 5min in winter...
But yeah, really good catalyst to drop in meditative state :)
50-55 degrees is the sweet spot for most, not because it’s better than 40 for example but because it allows most to “CT” for longer…and it’s the duration that is the key.
after long plunges I'm mostly shivering for a long time and it's hard to go back and focus on my work but then again I keep mine at 33 degrees...it's a Forge and I've had it for 2 years...I also have a hot tub next to it for contrast therapy...welcome to come and try it anytime (i'm near DT ATX). sometimes i do 3 min cold, 3 min hot, and repeat 2 more times.
Could I try it sometime? 🥶
Hey sorry Jacob I Iost access to my account and only just now saw your message. I already sold all my stuff and left the country last month but definitely would have been down!!
hey btw Jacob, check out Spaces https://spacesprotocol.org/
Doing very cold showers daily 3-4 minutes - and Wim Hoff’s breathing routines - marvelous!