April 2, 2025 • 18 mins
The practice of immersing your body in ice water is growing in popularity based on claims of improved mood and well-being, muscle recovery after exercise, even longevity. But this ignores the well-established fact that sudden cardiac death is a real risk due to coronary spasm, causing heart attack, and unstable heart rhythms due to a situation called autonomic conflict. There are a growing number of lawsuits that have been filed for the many sudden cardiac deaths that have occurred. So let’s discuss what we know about this concept of cold water immersion and why it is such a dangerous practice.
• Immersion in water around 15°C/60°F triggers dangerous physiological responses
• Cold exposure causes coronary arteries to spasm, potentially leading to heart attack
• Most adults have some degree of endothelial dysfunction, making them vulnerable
• "Autonomic conflict" occurs when both nervous system branches activate simultaneously
• Multiple lawsuits have been filed over deaths from ice baths and polar plunges
• Safer alternatives exist for achieving the claimed benefits of cold exposure
• Cold showering (starting warm and gradually cooling) may offer similar benefits with less risk
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
The practice of immersing your body in cold ice
water is growing in popularity,based on claims of improved mood
and well-being, muscle recoveryafter exercise, even longevity,
but this ignores thewell-established fact that
sudden cardiac death is a realrisk due to coronary spasm
causing heart attack andunstable heart rhythms due to a
(00:30):
situation called autonomicconflict.
There are a growing number oflawsuits that have been filed
for the many sudden cardiacdeaths that have occurred.
So let's discuss what we knowabout this concept of cold water
immersion and why it is such adangerous practice.
Let me also tell you aboutDefiant Health's sponsors Paleo
Valley, our preferred providerfor many excellent organic and
(00:53):
grass-fed food products, andBiotiQuest, my number one choice
for probiotics that arescientifically formulated,
unlike most other commercialprobiotic products available
today.
I'd like to make you aware of anew source for our favorite
microbe, lactobacillus roteri,and a skin formulation I
designed that improves skin fromthe inside out.
(01:15):
Let's take a few minutes andtalk about this concept of
so-called cold water immersion,and all that means is putting
yourself in a tub or bathtubtypically filled with ice cubes,
so the water is very cold,approximately 15 degrees Celsius
or about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
(01:37):
Now there are people whoadvocate this because they claim
that it improves mood,concentration, creativity and
recovery from exercise, andmaybe make other fairly wild
claims.
They will change your life,it's going to change human life.
It's going to extend your lifePretty bold assertions, right?
People like Wim Hof the Iceman?
(02:00):
He's the man from theNetherlands who popularized this
idea by doing such things assitting on an iceberg in a
bathing suit for extendedperiods and showing that he
survived, and he claims that hisperformance in life and his
well-being was improved.
Is there any truth to all ofthis?
Well, since those claimsstarted getting made, multiple
clinical trials have been done,looking at volunteers who've
(02:22):
subjected themselves to coldwater, typically for 15 to 30
minutes and typically at thosetemperatures I cited.
What happens?
Well, acutely, there's a risein heart rate, around 110, 120,
130 beats per minute.
There's a rise in bloodpressure to the hypertensive
range of about 140 over 90.
There is loss of musclestrength.
(02:43):
Afterwards, there may or maynot be an improvement in aerobic
performance.
The evidence is kind of mixed.
There's probably a very slightimprovement in recovery and
reduction of muscle sorenessafter being exposed to the cold
water, and there does seem to beself-perceived reports on
improved mood and a sense ofwell-being.
(03:04):
So what's the problem here?
There are very serious problemshere.
Let me tell you why.
So we've known without questionfor many years that exposure to
cold water is very dangerous.
This has been well established.
People who've fallen into, say,the Arctic waters or the North
Atlantic, falling off a ship,what happens to them?
(03:24):
Well, if they don't get rescuedright away, they die of
hypothermia, low bodytemperature.
Your body temperature only hasto drop to about 92 degrees
Fahrenheit, 90 degrees,something like that, and you
will die because your body shutsdown, your musculature shuts
down and your brain shuts downand you drown.
So that takes about 30 minutes,even in cold Arctic water.
(03:46):
But here's the problem Mostpeople die before they become
hypothermic.
This is well established.
You start shivering within afew minutes, your muscles start
to get weak and fail to contractwithin a few minutes.
But the real danger here isheart issues.
So what happens is when yourcoronary arteries those are the
(04:06):
arteries that feed your heart.
There's only three the leftanterior descending, the left
circumflex and the rightcoronary artery.
Only three coronary arteries sothat's all we have are very
cold, sensitive, and when you'reexposed to cold, it only takes
seconds to minutes for one ormore of those arteries to spasm.
And when arteries, when thecoronary arteries, spasm, you
(04:27):
have a heart attack and thatgenerates unstable heart rhythms
and that causes you to die.
So you can fall into the water,say off a ship in the North
Atlantic where the water is verycold, and even though you're
not hypothermic, within a fewminutes you die sudden cardiac
death.
That is well established.
By the way, coronary spasm is avery scary thing.
(04:48):
If you've ever heard of thisentity, this condition called
myocardial infarction, heartattack with normal coronary
arteries this is not all thatuncommon.
People have a heart attack,right, they have heart muscle
enzymes that go up like creatinekinase or EKG shows a heart
attack.
They're in the emergency room.
They go to the cath lab wherewe take angiograms of the
heart's arteries and they'renormal.
(05:10):
There's no blockage.
There's no 100% blockage, asoften happens in heart attack,
or 95% blockage that may havespasmed or ruptured.
They may have normal coronaryarteries or what appear to be
normal coronary arteries.
So what caused the heart attack?
That is, what caused thearteries to momentarily close
for a few minutes or half anhour or whatever, something like
(05:30):
that.
Well, that requires somethingcalled endothelial dysfunction.
All that means is the internalpaper-thin lining of all your
arteries is called theendothelium.
It's a single cell layer thatis very important because it's
the master controller ofarterial tone, whether arteries
are closed or open or partiallyclosed.
(05:54):
What causes these arteries tohave endothelial dysfunction?
All kinds of things.
Having high blood pressure,type 2 diabetes, just having
high blood sugar will do it.
Eating wheat, grains and sugarsthat provokes formation of
small LDL particles?
That will do it.
Just after a meal, theso-called postprandial period
that can do it.
Lack of vitamin D can do it.
Lack of omega-3 fatty acids cando it.
(06:15):
Lack of magnesium can do it.
In other words, that's just apartial list.
There are dozens of factors thatcause your arteries to be prone
to closure or spasm because ofendothelial dysfunction.
By the way, a very importantcause of that is lack of
hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic acid has nearlydisappeared from the modern diet
because we abandoned most of usthe consumption of organ meats
(06:38):
like brain, skin and tongue,rich in hyaluronic acid.
Because hyaluronic acid,although it's a fiber that
nourishes bacteria in yourmicrobiome, gastrointestinal
microbiome, it's also the numberone ingredient in the so-called
glycocalyx, that's thehair-like projections that line
the endothelium on the bloodside and determine the degree of
(07:01):
endothelial function ordysfunction.
So you can imagine if you'releading a life absent hyaluronic
acid.
You don't have the ingredientsto form the glycocalyx.
You are prone to endothelialdysfunction.
How common is endothelialdysfunction?
It is widespread.
Most adults have it, so it'snot uncommon, it's not a rare
thing.
(07:21):
You don't have to have overtcoronary disease to have
endothelial dysfunction.
You could be 22 years old andhave endothelial dysfunction.
But that's the process thatunderlies coronary spasm and
closure of the coronary arteriesand what provokes that Exposure
to cold.
We now know it's hard to keeptrack of this because the media
(07:43):
doesn't report all the deathsthat occur from cold exposure,
cold water exposure.
But if you just Google deathsfrom cold water immersion or the
cousin of cold water immersion,which is these polar bear
plunges that people do everyJanuary another example of cold
water exposure right, there aredozens of deaths, probably
widely underreported because notall deaths are reported to the
(08:05):
media.
Several dozen deaths, perhapshundreds of deaths, from people
who have exposed themselvesvoluntarily, not drowning, not
falling off a ship, but doing sovoluntarily by following this
idea of immersing yourself inice baths or ice water or
jumping in a lake or ocean.
That's very, very cold.
We know with confidence, thisleads to death, often in young
(08:28):
people, not just older people.
And, of course, people whoshovel snow die.
The Defiant Health Podcast issponsored by Paleo Valley makers
of delicious grass-fed beefsticks, healthy snack bars and
other products.
We're very picky around hereand insist that any product we
consider contains no junkingredients like carrageenan,
(08:50):
carboxymethylcellulose,sucralose or added sugars and,
of course, no gluten nor grains.
One of the habits I urgeeveryone to get into is to
include several servings offermented foods every day in
your diet, part of an effort tocultivate a healthy
gastrointestinal microbiome.
Unlike nearly all other meatsticks available, paleo Valley
(09:10):
grass-fed beef, pork and chickensticks are naturally fermented,
meaning they contain probioticbacterial species.
Paleo Valley has also launcheda number of interesting new
products, including extra virginolive oil, spice mixes, organic
coffee, strawberry lemonade,super greens and essential
electrolytes in a variety offlavors.
(09:30):
And if you haven't alreadytried it, you've got to try
their chocolate-flavored bonebroth protein that makes
delicious hot chocolate andbrownies.
See the recipes for thebrownies in my
drdavisinfinitehealthcom blog.
Listeners to the Defiant Healthpodcast receive a 15% discount
by going to paleovalleycom.
Backward slash defiant healthand, in case you haven't yet
(09:53):
heard, biotiquest.
Probiotics are my first choicefor intelligently, purposefully
crafted probiotics.
I've had numerous conversationswith BioDequest founders Martha
Carlin and academicmicrobiologist Dr Raul Cano.
They have formulated uniqueprobiotic products that
incorporate what are calledcollaborative or guild effects,
(10:15):
that is, groups of microbes thatcollaborate with each other via
sharing of specific metabolites, potentially providing
synergistic benefits.
They have designed their sugarshift probiotic to support
healthy blood sugars.
Simple slumber to support sleep.
Ideal immunity to support ahealthy immune response.
Heart-centered that supportsseveral aspects of heart health.
(10:38):
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The BioDequest probiotics are,I believe, among the most
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Enter the discount code UNDOC15, all caps, u-n-d-o-c-15, for a
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15% discount.
For Defiant Health listeners anddue to demand for reliable,
convenient sources ofLactobacillus roteri, our
favorite microbe, I created twoproducts MyRoteri that contains
20 billion counts of L-Roterialone, and Gut2Glow that, in
addition to L-Roteri, has addedmarine-sourced collagen peptides
that, in addition to El Roteri,has added marine-sourced
(11:18):
collagen peptides, hyaluronicacid and the carotenoid
astaxanthin.
All combined to stack the oddsin favor of beneficial skin
effects.
Of course, you can take theseproducts as is or you can use
either as a starter to make ElRoteri yogurt to generate even
higher counts of microbes forbigger effects.
(11:38):
I'll provide a link for theseproducts below in the show notes
.
So one consequence of coldexposure, cold water immersion
or polar plunges is coronaryspasm and artery closes and you
have an unstable heart rhythmand you die of ventricular
tachycardia, ventricularfibrillation, torsade.
(12:01):
Oddly, torsade Torsade justmeans it's torsade de pointe,
it's a French term for what'scalled turning around a point.
All it means is on an EKG itkind of has this fluctuating
rhythm and it is a cause forsudden cardiac death.
We'd see this in the coronarycare units all the time, mostly
from people taking diuretics andhaving low magnesium.
(12:22):
And if you don't give themmagnesium right away intravenous
, they'll die because thatrhythm is associated with no
pumping action of the heart.
The heart just quivers, itstops pumping and you die.
So that's a very common rhythmwith cold water immersion.
Another consequence is, evenwithout, coronary spasm and
closure of a coronary arterybecause of the flood of both
(12:45):
sympathetic fight or flight andparasympathetic, meditative or
relaxation response.
The combination is triggered bycold exposure and some people
call that autonomic conflict,because you have the activation
of both the sympathetic and theparasympathetic systems.
Think about those systems, theparasympathetic system, the
sympathetic system as the brakeand gas pedal in your car.
(13:08):
So the gas pedal is thesympathetic system, the brake
pedal is the parasympatheticsystem.
What if you hit both of them?
Your car is probably not goingto go anywhere, be really
confused or you might jerk right.
Same kind of thing happens inthe heart when you activate both
to an extreme simultaneouslyand the heart responds with
unstable heart rhythms, just asit would if one of the arteries
(13:29):
closed.
So you can get torsade, you canget ventricular fibrillation,
you can get atrial ventricularblock.
That's where the top of theheart is pumping rapidly, say
130 beats per minute, and thebottom of the heart is beating,
not receiving all those signals,and beats slowly, maybe 30
beats per minute, becausethere's blockade of the
electrical conduction from thetop to the bottom of the heart.
(13:51):
And if your heart rate iseffectively 30, you pass out.
And if you're in cold wateryou're going to die, right,
you're going to drown.
And so cold water exposure,whether it's intentional or
inadvertent, will lead tocoronary spasm in many people or
unstable heart rhythms.
Now there have been so manydeaths and there have been many
(14:13):
lawsuits filed, by the way, bothfor people advocating cold
water immersion, like Wim Hofand people who've conducted
these polar plunges in January.
There are multiple lawsuits nowbeing waged, so much so that I
anticipate there's going to be aclass action suit against the
people advocating this practice.
So if you've been tellingpeople, if you're a doc or a
(14:33):
health coach or just a proponentof cold water immersion, back
off.
It is well documented thesepractices lead to sudden cardiac
death.
Even if there's no hypothermia,you can die within minutes of
sudden cardiac death.
Now this is an example of someof the silliness that comes from
(14:54):
some of these advocates.
Some people call it biohacking,and so what happens here is
these people who advocate thesepractices didn't think it
through thoroughly or didn'tthoroughly think about the
evidence, because it's not likethere's no evidence.
There's abundant evidence toshow us that cold water exposure
can be fatal in many instances.
You go on some of thesewebsites where they advocate,
(15:16):
for instance, cold waterimmersion, and there may be 25
or 30 references.
You probably think, wow, thisperson really did their homework
.
Until you click on each andevery one of those references
and find out that almost none ofthem are relevant to cold water
exposure.
They might be somethingcompletely different, unrelated.
But at first glance, at firstblush, it looks like there's a
(15:39):
ton of evidence and there's nota ton of evidence for benefits,
modest benefits maybe, animprovement in mood, improving
well-being.
But you can achieve those thingsin other ways, right?
You can exercise, you canmeditate.
There are so many other ways toachieve better feeling.
You can manage your microbiome,you can restore lactobacillus
reuteri.
So many other things you can doand you're not going to chance
(16:01):
death.
What if I told you here's adiet change and you say, well,
is it safe?
I, what if I told you here's adiet change and you say, well,
is it safe?
I say, well, there's a chanceyou could die of sudden cardiac
death within the first fewminutes of trying.
Would you even try?
Of course you wouldn't.
Yet that's what these peopleare selling Now.
This is true of many practicescoming out of this biohacking
world.
Not to say that everythingcoming out of the biohacking
(16:21):
world is bad it's not.
There are some good lessonscoming out of it.
In fact, I'm a big proponent,I'm a big advocate of
crowd-sourced wisdom, of thoseof us who all ask the same
questions.
Let's say how to improveperformance in sports or in
mental exercise, and goodlessons can come out of it.
The problem is when it's beingadvocated by people who are
(16:42):
fairly unschooled,unsophisticated, don't examine
the evidence, don't consider theextent, the full breadth of
evidence.
Then you have silly advice likeimmerse yourself into cold
water.
So I hate to say it this waythey need an adult in the room,
they need somebody whounderstands the issue.
So, having practiced cardiologyfor several decades, I can tell
(17:03):
you coronary spasm, unstableheart rhythms are a very scary
thing, something I dealt withevery day for about 30 years.
I can tell you that these arethings you do not want any part
of and you don't want to bringit on yourself.
This is not like an accident.
These people are jumping in thewater on purpose.
(17:24):
So please do not do this.
Tell people around you don't doit.
And if you want to get some ofthe benefits of cold water,
maybe take a cold shower, startwarm, bring it down gradually so
you don't confuse your heartand have it go into an unstable
heart rhythm or cause coronaryspasm and so and then maybe sit
there for a few minutes.
That is probably safe,no-transcript.
(18:11):
So you're probably okay withcryotherapy in an air atmosphere
, but know that water immersionis extremely dangerous.
Nobody should be doing it.
The practice of immersing your body in cold ice
water is growing in popularity,based on claims of improved mood
and well-being, muscle recoveryafter exercise, even longevity,
but this ignores thewell-established fact that
sudden cardiac death is a realrisk due to coronary spasm
causing heart attack andunstable heart rhythms due to a
(00:30):
situation called autonomicconflict.
There are a growing number oflawsuits that have been filed
for the many sudden cardiacdeaths that have occurred.
So let's discuss what we knowabout this concept of cold water
immersion and why it is such adangerous practice.
Let me also tell you aboutDefiant Health's sponsors Paleo
Valley, our preferred providerfor many excellent organic and
(00:53):
grass-fed food products, andBiotiQuest, my number one choice
for probiotics that arescientifically formulated,
unlike most other commercialprobiotic products available
today.
I'd like to make you aware of anew source for our favorite
microbe, lactobacillus roteri,and a skin formulation I
designed that improves skin fromthe inside out.
(01:15):
Let's take a few minutes andtalk about this concept of
so-called cold water immersion,and all that means is putting
yourself in a tub or bathtubtypically filled with ice cubes,
so the water is very cold,approximately 15 degrees Celsius
or about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
(01:37):
Now there are people whoadvocate this because they claim
that it improves mood,concentration, creativity and
recovery from exercise, andmaybe make other fairly wild
claims.
They will change your life,it's going to change human life.
It's going to extend your lifePretty bold assertions, right?
People like Wim Hof the Iceman?
(02:00):
He's the man from theNetherlands who popularized this
idea by doing such things assitting on an iceberg in a
bathing suit for extendedperiods and showing that he
survived, and he claims that hisperformance in life and his
well-being was improved.
Is there any truth to all ofthis?
Well, since those claimsstarted getting made, multiple
clinical trials have been done,looking at volunteers who've
(02:22):
subjected themselves to coldwater, typically for 15 to 30
minutes and typically at thosetemperatures I cited.
What happens?
Well, acutely, there's a risein heart rate, around 110, 120,
130 beats per minute.
There's a rise in bloodpressure to the hypertensive
range of about 140 over 90.
There is loss of musclestrength.
(02:43):
Afterwards, there may or maynot be an improvement in aerobic
performance.
The evidence is kind of mixed.
There's probably a very slightimprovement in recovery and
reduction of muscle sorenessafter being exposed to the cold
water, and there does seem to beself-perceived reports on
improved mood and a sense ofwell-being.
(03:04):
So what's the problem here?
There are very serious problemshere.
Let me tell you why.
So we've known without questionfor many years that exposure to
cold water is very dangerous.
This has been well established.
People who've fallen into, say,the Arctic waters or the North
Atlantic, falling off a ship,what happens to them?
(03:24):
Well, if they don't get rescuedright away, they die of
hypothermia, low bodytemperature.
Your body temperature only hasto drop to about 92 degrees
Fahrenheit, 90 degrees,something like that, and you
will die because your body shutsdown, your musculature shuts
down and your brain shuts downand you drown.
So that takes about 30 minutes,even in cold Arctic water.
(03:46):
But here's the problem Mostpeople die before they become
hypothermic.
This is well established.
You start shivering within afew minutes, your muscles start
to get weak and fail to contractwithin a few minutes.
But the real danger here isheart issues.
So what happens is when yourcoronary arteries those are the
(04:06):
arteries that feed your heart.
There's only three the leftanterior descending, the left
circumflex and the rightcoronary artery.
Only three coronary arteries sothat's all we have are very
cold, sensitive, and when you'reexposed to cold, it only takes
seconds to minutes for one ormore of those arteries to spasm.
And when arteries, when thecoronary arteries, spasm, you
(04:27):
have a heart attack and thatgenerates unstable heart rhythms
and that causes you to die.
So you can fall into the water,say off a ship in the North
Atlantic where the water is verycold, and even though you're
not hypothermic, within a fewminutes you die sudden cardiac
death.
That is well established.
By the way, coronary spasm is avery scary thing.
(04:48):
If you've ever heard of thisentity, this condition called
myocardial infarction, heartattack with normal coronary
arteries this is not all thatuncommon.
People have a heart attack,right, they have heart muscle
enzymes that go up like creatinekinase or EKG shows a heart
attack.
They're in the emergency room.
They go to the cath lab wherewe take angiograms of the
heart's arteries and they'renormal.
(05:10):
There's no blockage.
There's no 100% blockage, asoften happens in heart attack,
or 95% blockage that may havespasmed or ruptured.
They may have normal coronaryarteries or what appear to be
normal coronary arteries.
So what caused the heart attack?
That is, what caused thearteries to momentarily close
for a few minutes or half anhour or whatever, something like
(05:30):
that.
Well, that requires somethingcalled endothelial dysfunction.
All that means is the internalpaper-thin lining of all your
arteries is called theendothelium.
It's a single cell layer thatis very important because it's
the master controller ofarterial tone, whether arteries
are closed or open or partiallyclosed.
(05:54):
What causes these arteries tohave endothelial dysfunction?
All kinds of things.
Having high blood pressure,type 2 diabetes, just having
high blood sugar will do it.
Eating wheat, grains and sugarsthat provokes formation of
small LDL particles?
That will do it.
Just after a meal, theso-called postprandial period
that can do it.
Lack of vitamin D can do it.
Lack of omega-3 fatty acids cando it.
(06:15):
Lack of magnesium can do it.
In other words, that's just apartial list.
There are dozens of factors thatcause your arteries to be prone
to closure or spasm because ofendothelial dysfunction.
By the way, a very importantcause of that is lack of
hyaluronic acid.
Hyaluronic acid has nearlydisappeared from the modern diet
because we abandoned most of usthe consumption of organ meats
(06:38):
like brain, skin and tongue,rich in hyaluronic acid.
Because hyaluronic acid,although it's a fiber that
nourishes bacteria in yourmicrobiome, gastrointestinal
microbiome, it's also the numberone ingredient in the so-called
glycocalyx, that's thehair-like projections that line
the endothelium on the bloodside and determine the degree of
(07:01):
endothelial function ordysfunction.
So you can imagine if you'releading a life absent hyaluronic
acid.
You don't have the ingredientsto form the glycocalyx.
You are prone to endothelialdysfunction.
How common is endothelialdysfunction?
It is widespread.
Most adults have it, so it'snot uncommon, it's not a rare
thing.
(07:21):
You don't have to have overtcoronary disease to have
endothelial dysfunction.
You could be 22 years old andhave endothelial dysfunction.
But that's the process thatunderlies coronary spasm and
closure of the coronary arteriesand what provokes that Exposure
to cold.
We now know it's hard to keeptrack of this because the media
(07:43):
doesn't report all the deathsthat occur from cold exposure,
cold water exposure.
But if you just Google deathsfrom cold water immersion or the
cousin of cold water immersion,which is these polar bear
plunges that people do everyJanuary another example of cold
water exposure right, there aredozens of deaths, probably
widely underreported because notall deaths are reported to the
(08:05):
media.
Several dozen deaths, perhapshundreds of deaths, from people
who have exposed themselvesvoluntarily, not drowning, not
falling off a ship, but doing sovoluntarily by following this
idea of immersing yourself inice baths or ice water or
jumping in a lake or ocean.
That's very, very cold.
We know with confidence, thisleads to death, often in young
(08:28):
people, not just older people.
And, of course, people whoshovel snow die.
The Defiant Health Podcast issponsored by Paleo Valley makers
of delicious grass-fed beefsticks, healthy snack bars and
other products.
We're very picky around hereand insist that any product we
consider contains no junkingredients like carrageenan,
(08:50):
carboxymethylcellulose,sucralose or added sugars and,
of course, no gluten nor grains.
One of the habits I urgeeveryone to get into is to
include several servings offermented foods every day in
your diet, part of an effort tocultivate a healthy
gastrointestinal microbiome.
Unlike nearly all other meatsticks available, paleo Valley
(09:10):
grass-fed beef, pork and chickensticks are naturally fermented,
meaning they contain probioticbacterial species.
Paleo Valley has also launcheda number of interesting new
products, including extra virginolive oil, spice mixes, organic
coffee, strawberry lemonade,super greens and essential
electrolytes in a variety offlavors.
(09:30):
And if you haven't alreadytried it, you've got to try
their chocolate-flavored bonebroth protein that makes
delicious hot chocolate andbrownies.
See the recipes for thebrownies in my
drdavisinfinitehealthcom blog.
Listeners to the Defiant Healthpodcast receive a 15% discount
by going to paleovalleycom.
Backward slash defiant healthand, in case you haven't yet
(09:53):
heard, biotiquest.
Probiotics are my first choicefor intelligently, purposefully
crafted probiotics.
I've had numerous conversationswith BioDequest founders Martha
Carlin and academicmicrobiologist Dr Raul Cano.
They have formulated uniqueprobiotic products that
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So one consequence of coldexposure, cold water immersion
or polar plunges is coronaryspasm and artery closes and you
have an unstable heart rhythmand you die of ventricular
tachycardia, ventricularfibrillation, torsade.
(12:01):
Oddly, torsade Torsade justmeans it's torsade de pointe,
it's a French term for what'scalled turning around a point.
All it means is on an EKG itkind of has this fluctuating
rhythm and it is a cause forsudden cardiac death.
We'd see this in the coronarycare units all the time, mostly
from people taking diuretics andhaving low magnesium.
(12:22):
And if you don't give themmagnesium right away intravenous
, they'll die because thatrhythm is associated with no
pumping action of the heart.
The heart just quivers, itstops pumping and you die.
So that's a very common rhythmwith cold water immersion.
Another consequence is, evenwithout, coronary spasm and
closure of a coronary arterybecause of the flood of both
(12:45):
sympathetic fight or flight andparasympathetic, meditative or
relaxation response.
The combination is triggered bycold exposure and some people
call that autonomic conflict,because you have the activation
of both the sympathetic and theparasympathetic systems.
Think about those systems, theparasympathetic system, the
sympathetic system as the brakeand gas pedal in your car.
(13:08):
So the gas pedal is thesympathetic system, the brake
pedal is the parasympatheticsystem.
What if you hit both of them?
Your car is probably not goingto go anywhere, be really
confused or you might jerk right.
Same kind of thing happens inthe heart when you activate both
to an extreme simultaneouslyand the heart responds with
unstable heart rhythms, just asit would if one of the arteries
(13:29):
closed.
So you can get torsade, you canget ventricular fibrillation,
you can get atrial ventricularblock.
That's where the top of theheart is pumping rapidly, say
130 beats per minute, and thebottom of the heart is beating,
not receiving all those signals,and beats slowly, maybe 30
beats per minute, becausethere's blockade of the
electrical conduction from thetop to the bottom of the heart.
(13:51):
And if your heart rate iseffectively 30, you pass out.
And if you're in cold wateryou're going to die, right,
you're going to drown.
And so cold water exposure,whether it's intentional or
inadvertent, will lead tocoronary spasm in many people or
unstable heart rhythms.
Now there have been so manydeaths and there have been many
(14:13):
lawsuits filed, by the way, bothfor people advocating cold
water immersion, like Wim Hofand people who've conducted
these polar plunges in January.
There are multiple lawsuits nowbeing waged, so much so that I
anticipate there's going to be aclass action suit against the
people advocating this practice.
So if you've been tellingpeople, if you're a doc or a
(14:33):
health coach or just a proponentof cold water immersion, back
off.
It is well documented thesepractices lead to sudden cardiac
death.
Even if there's no hypothermia,you can die within minutes of
sudden cardiac death.
Now this is an example of someof the silliness that comes from
(14:54):
some of these advocates.
Some people call it biohacking,and so what happens here is
these people who advocate thesepractices didn't think it
through thoroughly or didn'tthoroughly think about the
evidence, because it's not likethere's no evidence.
There's abundant evidence toshow us that cold water exposure
can be fatal in many instances.
You go on some of thesewebsites where they advocate,
(15:16):
for instance, cold waterimmersion, and there may be 25
or 30 references.
You probably think, wow, thisperson really did their homework
.
Until you click on each andevery one of those references
and find out that almost none ofthem are relevant to cold water
exposure.
They might be somethingcompletely different, unrelated.
But at first glance, at firstblush, it looks like there's a
(15:39):
ton of evidence and there's nota ton of evidence for benefits,
modest benefits maybe, animprovement in mood, improving
well-being.
But you can achieve those thingsin other ways, right?
You can exercise, you canmeditate.
There are so many other ways toachieve better feeling.
You can manage your microbiome,you can restore lactobacillus
reuteri.
So many other things you can doand you're not going to chance
(16:01):
death.
What if I told you here's adiet change and you say, well,
is it safe?
I, what if I told you here's adiet change and you say, well,
is it safe?
I say, well, there's a chanceyou could die of sudden cardiac
death within the first fewminutes of trying.
Would you even try?
Of course you wouldn't.
Yet that's what these peopleare selling Now.
This is true of many practicescoming out of this biohacking
world.
Not to say that everythingcoming out of the biohacking
(16:21):
world is bad it's not.
There are some good lessonscoming out of it.
In fact, I'm a big proponent,I'm a big advocate of
crowd-sourced wisdom, of thoseof us who all ask the same
questions.
Let's say how to improveperformance in sports or in
mental exercise, and goodlessons can come out of it.
The problem is when it's beingadvocated by people who are
(16:42):
fairly unschooled,unsophisticated, don't examine
the evidence, don't consider theextent, the full breadth of
evidence.
Then you have silly advice likeimmerse yourself into cold
water.
So I hate to say it this waythey need an adult in the room,
they need somebody whounderstands the issue.
So, having practiced cardiologyfor several decades, I can tell
(17:03):
you coronary spasm, unstableheart rhythms are a very scary
thing, something I dealt withevery day for about 30 years.
I can tell you that these arethings you do not want any part
of and you don't want to bringit on yourself.
This is not like an accident.
These people are jumping in thewater on purpose.
(17:24):
So please do not do this.
Tell people around you don't doit.
And if you want to get some ofthe benefits of cold water,
maybe take a cold shower, startwarm, bring it down gradually so
you don't confuse your heartand have it go into an unstable
heart rhythm or cause coronaryspasm and so and then maybe sit
there for a few minutes.
That is probably safe,no-transcript.
(18:11):
So you're probably okay withcryotherapy in an air atmosphere
, but know that water immersionis extremely dangerous.
Nobody should be doing it.
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