Cold Exposure Optimisation for Women

This article will be eye-opening for each and every one of you so whether you are brand new to the topic or have been doing cold dips for years, I know you are going to learn something new today.

Male data rules sports science research – but that’s about to change!

Various methods of exposing oneself to cold have become increasingly more popular in the recent years and it seems that everybody is suddenly an expert although in reality that is not the case. Let’s be clear – we have been playing around with cold exposure for therapeutic reasons for thousands of years, since around 3500BC. We have been studying the benefits of it for a much shorter time and what we have learned so far is only one side of the coin. As female participant based scientific data has finally started to appear, we are learning just how differently our bodies interact with food for energy, how our cycle affects our performance and, today’s topic – how we respond to cold and heat. So, if so far you have been copying your favourite health influencer’s cold plunge schedule, there’s a huge chance that their regime is not optimal for you. Don’t worry, after reading this blog, you will be equipped with solid information to help you find your optimal cold exposure methods.

Did you know? Sports research based on female participants has only appeared in the last decade. As a shocking example, only 6% of sports science focuses on female athletes. The upside of this? Where there is some, there will be more, which means that in the upcoming decade, we are going to be swimming in female focused research – what a time to be alive!

Personal experience – follow your intuition

I have always enjoyed some type of cold exposure, mainly for fun as that’s how it was introduced to me as a child. My grandmother owned a farm and a proper hot sauna visit was a weekly thing, complete with whacking yourself with birch branches and occasionally running out into the snow in the winter. You’d sit in the heat (as high up as possible) until it became too much, then run out and jump into fresh snow, squealed, did a quick snow angel, squealed again and ran back inside to be warm again. Despite me seeing this as a fun activity, it taught me at a very young age that alternating hot and cold would make me healthier so I had a desire to keep doing it.

Then, I remember, at the height of my adolescence, I tried my first indoor combo – sitting in a hot sauna and then jumping into an ice cold pool (built exactly for this purpose) and I didn’t like it at all! I felt as if my body sprung back out of the water just as quickly as I had jumped in. It was hideously cold, almost prickly, and such a shock to the body. Snow had never done me wrong like that! I never repeated the ice cold pool fiasco again.

In my twenties sauna visits had become a little less frequent and cold exposure was minimal. Still, whenever given the opportunity to jump from hot to cold, I’d take it and would try a cooler pool (enjoyable) or an ice bucket (no, thank you). As I entered my 30s, I joined a fancier gym and started making the most of the facilities, which led to my favourite cold exposure routine being born. Alternating 10-15 minute bouts in the dry sauna or steam sauna with 5-10 minute visits to the outdoor pool (depending on the season). This is nowadays known as contrast bath therapy and you can read about later on in this article. I think it’s fun that all this time I had been doing it for enjoyment yet intuitively steered towards methods that have been proven optimal for us women. I will break down the science for you now.

We get cold quicker but can withstand heat better than men

Let’s make a pact that the next time some beefcake of a man with a beard tells you to take a 5 minute cold bath in 0-6C water, you tell him to jog on. That is simply far too cold for us. Now, some of you reading this might think: “I’ve done that and it wasn’t too bad.” If that is the case, you might be a wonderful exception or a seasoned cold water immersion veteran. However, for beginners, when conditions aren’t optimal, you aren’t going to experience the benefits, and when doing extremely cold plunges, you simply won’t adapt, which is the whole point of the activity. Let’s have a look at where it all stems from.

Anatomical & physiological differences:

Men have naturally more muscle mass, which also means higher body temperature and them burning more energy even at rest, which makes them warmer. Men also sweat sooner and they sweat more since they have more active sweat glands, making them also more prone to suffer from hyperhidrosis.

Women have less lean muscle mass and a lower core temperature, which has to rise higher than men’s for us to start sweating. This is because we vasodilate first to manage our core temperature, pushing hot blood to the surface, which can turn our face red. We also have a stronger shock response due to severe vasoconstriction (more on all this below).

Cardiovascular exercise (in the cold):

Women can go out for a run, wearing a hat and gloves and return in the same condition without having sweated as their body has been thermoregulating more during the run. This is due to the heat being pushed from the core to the periphery. For men, the heat goes centrally, making them sweat sooner, so they would likely return dripping in sweat and without hat or gloves as they overheated quickly.

*The topic of hormones, training and sweating is important, so I will cover this in length in the future, however in the meantime, I would encourage you to read/listen to Dr. Stacy Sims to learn more.

Heat exposure:

We have learned that it will take approximately 9 sessions of heat exposure in sauna for women to get the same benefits as men get in 5 sessions. This is mainly due to the constant changes in our body as we go through our menstrual cycle. (You can read the full blog post here to discover and optimise every phase of your period.) I want you to know this isn’t a disadvantage as it means our bodies are so efficient at regulating the 0.5 degree change (during luteal phase, due to progesterone) that it simply takes more heat and more exposure to drive the core temperature up successfully. And if you’re thinking of just turning the heat up to achieve the same result then know that this won’t work – you’ll just be able to spend less time in the sauna per session.

To summarise simply: Men do better in the cold and women do better in hot and humid conditions.

Different methods and their benefits

Whether you are thinking of ice baths or cold sea dips, remember to introduce the cold temperature gradually. Unaccustomed individuals could experience serious health risks from the vagal response of extremely low temperature. And yes, there is such a thing as ‘too cold’. If we want successful adaptation, we cannot follow male protocols as these are often extreme. Cold water immersion, when done right, reduces insulin resistance, improves insulin sensitivity and also seems to reduce bodyfat. These can create a protective effect against obesity, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases and have other prophylactic health effects.

Showering – For women, the ideal temperature for cold water immersion is around 14-15C – that’s the water running from the cold tap at home or the temperature of an outdoor pool in the winter/spring. This temperature doesn’t “over shock” the body and delivers the benefits. Cold showers in the morning are encouraged to increase alertness and to lower stress. Start with something as short as 10-30 seconds and remember to continue taking calm, deep breaths to relax the muscles and to not tense up. You can then build your stamina up to several minutes over time.

Contrast hydrotherapy/bath therapy – Alternating cold and hot showers or, like I prefer to – spend time in the sauna and then get in the pool to walk laps. I like to keep moving in cold water, so even in case of a cold shower I don’t stand still as this allows me to withstand more discomfort. This method lessens muscle fatigue and decreases pain, swelling, and lactic acid build-up following intense exercise. It also increases alertness, improves our skin and general health.

Sea/lake/river dips – In the UK winter, most water bodies are between 0 and 10 degrees, so it might not be safe for CWI beginners. Think: Mediterranean Sea (in the winter) and not Arctic Ocean. Water that is too cold can cause an extreme shock response, which is followed by parasympathetic drive that results in not being able to get your core temperature or heart rate up. This means you might not be able to actually swim, which could prove dangerous. Men don’t have such a vagal response and although they will feel the cold, they adjust quickly and can carry on swimming. However, as you gradually adapt to the colder temperature over time, winter swimming can increase body tolerance to stressors and achieve body hardening.

Ice baths after training – cold will soothe inflamed joints but will restrict blood flow to the muscles, which you need in order to get all the post-workout nutrients to your muscles. These methods are used by pro athletes who are already in elite shape and have no adaptations to make other than to return the body to it’s pre training condition in order to be able to move again within hours or the next day. Recreational athletes risk not recovering fully and therefore missing out on the adaptations they fought so hard for in their training session, so this method is not recommended.

So much to discuss, so little time

I hope you have found this article as satisfying to read as it was for me to write it. As you noticed from little remarks here and there, there is so much more to cover in relation to these topics, and I cannot wait to bring more eye-opening information to you. For now, I’ll leave you to ponder the incredibly fascinating human body and invite you to start a discussion or to ask me questions on the topic.

Rahel xx