## Metadata author:: [[@Huberman Lab]] publish_date:: reviewed_date:: ## Highlights - The Benefits of Cold Showers for Managing Stress and Improving Decision-Making ### Key takeaways - Most people have access to a cold shower, which can help reduce heating costs. - Cold showers can elevate adrenaline levels, and learning to stay calm in this state is beneficial. - Deliberate cold exposure is effective because it is non-negotiable and stimulates adrenaline release. - Initially, cold showers may cause stress and accelerated breathing, but practicing breathing control can improve stress management. - The practice of cold exposure can enhance internal state management, cognition, and decision-making under stress. ### Transcript Speaker 1: But most everyone has access to a cold shower, not everyone, but most people. And of course, by turning off the heat, you're going to reduce heating costs, right, your water bill. So getting into a cold shower for a minute or so to elevate your levels of adrenaline and learning to either use your breathing, you could do physiological size, or to distract yourself Or whatever tools and approaches you need to be able to stay calm while you have elevated levels of adrenaline in your body. And the reason deliberate cold exposure works so well to do this is that it is pretty non-negotiable. Even if you really love cold showers or cold plunges or things of that sort, you're still going to get that elevated adrenaline and nore adrenaline. It's pretty much non-negotiable. You know, for the first 10 or 15 seconds that you get into a cold plunge or a cold shower, you should fully expect yourself to feel stressed and for your breathing to accelerate. And then your goal is to try and anchor or control your breathing in that stressful environment. And the reason for doing this is that it's a practice. It's a practice that's going to translate to a better ability to manage your internal state and therefore you're thinking your cognition and your ability to make good decisions under Stress. It's not about coming untouched by stress. [(Time 0:46:48)](https://share.snipd.com/snip/f38bb42a-ad7e-4b71-8a19-c7346ed922a7)