5 Easy Ways to Embrace the Benefits of Cold Weather

In this podcast Dr. Rodney and Karen will inspire you to embrace the cold in order to receive health benefits now and invest in future longevity through a Rejuvenation Lifestyle.

They provide a recap of a podcast we posted a few years ago. Here is the link if you want to feel inspired by their research: 10 Reasons to Chill.

The benefits are at the end of the podcast and here's a recap for you so you can get started with new healthy habits.

1. Turn down the thermostat.
2. Take cold and hot contrast showers.
3. Immerse your face, hands and feet in ice water.
4. Go outside in cold temperatures.
5. Refrain from negative comments about the effects of the cold weather. In other words, "Stop complaining and embrace the many health benefits of a cold environment."

Dr. Rodney is now a Certified Functional Medicine Practitioner who would love to help if you are always cold. You can be tested for hormonal and thyroid issues right in our office or in the comfort of your own home.

Call 972-802-8812 to set up an introductory call to Root Cause Solutions at Stance for Health.

Functional Medicine works in every system to get you to your healthiest and to boost your longevity.

Follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/stanceforhealth

Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/stancechiropractic

Our website is: https://www.stancechiropractic.com/podcast

Please rate us and write a review!

Transcript

[00:53] I'm Dr. Rodney, seated next to Karen,The Hope Lady. And today we're talking about something that's in our own backyard.

[01:04] Karen: Yes. Because winter has finally arrived in Texas. Our fall was very long.

[01:10] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[01:11] Karen: And then suddenly I spent the weekend getting my garden ready for freezing temps and putting cover.

[01:19] Dr. Rodney: Oh, yeah, exactly.

[01:20] Karen: You were about to say the porch plants.

[01:22] Dr. Rodney: Right.

[01:23] Karen: So, it got us thinking about a subject that's near and dear to us, which is cold exposure. And how should you get started? But let's talk about the why first.

[01:36] Dr. Rodney: But we're talking to someone very specific today. But we're also talking to you if you don't even want anything to do with cold exposure.

[01:44] Karen: Well, think about it. How many people say, oh, I love playing in the cold, but you did as a kid.

[01:52] Dr. Rodney: Yes, I didn't have a choice, but I did grow up in it.

[01:55] Karen: And you would spend hours out building ice caves and igloos and all kinds.

[02:02] Dr. Rodney: Flooding, tobogganing, what we used to call snow tubing. Down. Down the, down the big hill, the nearest hill.

[02:12] Karen: I've seen that hill.

[02:13] Dr. Rodney: Illinois. Yeah.

[02:14] Karen: Yeah.

[02:15] Dr. Rodney: Yep, that's it. And so that aside from the recreational quality of it, what if you're just. Just for the sheer sake of exposure to. For the sake of health, you're exposing yourself to cold?

[02:31] Karen: How?

[02:31] Dr. Rodney: You're ask, you're asking, how should we go about doing that?

[02:34] Karen: But I think that before we. We get too much into that, we might need to give some highlights on the. Why would you want to do it? Because while we enjoy, we know that heat exposure and cold exposure both have some of the same benefits.

[02:50] For example, metabolic rate. If people want to raise their metabolism, they just need to be exposed to cold. And I was talking with one of our health partners today about this very topic, and that's how it came up, too.

[03:04] And I said part of why we're in such bad shape metabolically is we're never out of our comfort zone. I mean, we live here in Texas, and it gets very hot.

[03:14] But people go from their air-conditioned building where they work to their air conditioned car. Maybe they have just a small window in there. But we no longer have those uncomfortable times because we have central air and AC and everything.

[03:30] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. I actually was talking to someone walking down the hall this morning here in this very office building. And I could hear as I was turning the, about to turn the corner, I knew that they were right there.

[03:42] I won't mention their names because they might listen to this.

[03:46] And I heard them complain about how cold it was. It's like, oh, so cold outside. I can't believe it. And I said, oh, well, it's a good thing that you're in Texas then.

[03:56] And so how, how much do you appreciate the heat? And, and to that they said essentially the same thing. I says, I'm, that's it. It gets too hot in the summertime.

[04:04] That's why I love being indoors. I said, well, it's a good thing that you work in an office then. We’re really talking about the whys of the two extremes today.

[04:14] Karen: Yes.

[04:15] Dr. Rodney: And the reasons why in particular colder temperatures are actually good for you.

[04:23] Karen: Well, they help you burn fat that they did research where they just had somebody in a colder building throughout the winter. I will say that's in Holland. So that was probably pretty cold.

[04:35] And they lost fat. That's that brown adipose tissue. They developed more of that. So you don't want the wiggly white stuff, you want it to turn brown. Is that what I'm talking they're talking about?

[04:48] Dr. Rodney: Oh, you mean, you mean brown fat's different than white fat?

[04:51] Karen: Yeah, yeah. For your metabolism we certainly have.

[04:54] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. That brown fat actually has a higher metabolic rate.

[04:57] Karen: That's it. And then also it's, it has to do with, with boosting glycemic control and insulin sensitivity. So when you activate the bat, it basically allows your fuel to burn better.

[05:12] And so we have a society where, oh, I don't know what the numbers are, but the prediabetes epidemic is upon us. People either are diabetic or pre diabetic.

[05:28] Interesting.

[05:29] Dr. Rodney: It is interesting. So glycemic control, who knew that you could actually do that with cold exposure? You would think for whatever reason, because you're sweating, that you could actually control to some degree anyway with heat, with both extremes.

[05:44] Karen: Really.

[05:44] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[05:45] Karen: Because what happens is you have those heat shock proteins and does the same and similar with the cold. It shocks your body. When we're looking, then let's just use that one general area, your metabolic, your fat burning and your, Your glycemic level.

[06:06] Why do we avoid it if it's that good for us?

[06:09] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, I was thinking about that on the way here. I thought. I think it's because we've heard too many people talk about frostbite and frost nip and. Oh, you're going to get.

[06:18] I'm going to.

[06:18] Karen: Oh, I got it. I'm going to freeze to death.

[06:21] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, yeah.

[06:21] Karen: And they literally say that I'm going to freeze to death, but nobody. It's 40 degrees out here, folks.

[06:27] Dr. Rodney: But nobody recognizes that. The other extreme is heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

[06:33] And it seems to me that those would be far more common because we think what we do about heat than the cold, extreme injuries. Now, don't get me wrong, we're not in Alaska.

[06:47] We're not talking about Alaska. We're not talking about life below zero. Exactly.

[06:52] Karen: We used to watch that all the time. Right.

[06:55] Dr. Rodney: But we really just. Can we also talk about the reality that, that when you use ice. I've, I've often thought that ice was better in cases of inflammation.

[07:08] Karen: Oh, yes. That's what we recommend when somebody falls and it's swollen and.

[07:14] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[07:14] Karen: Inflamed ice.

[07:16] Dr. Rodney: So your body, in a general way will benefit not just on the local application of ice, but the systemic exposure to cold.

[07:26] Karen: Awesome.

[07:27] Dr. Rodney: I like it.

[07:27] Karen: So, like, if someone's suffering overall with joint inflammation, cold exposure could help them with that.

[07:35] Dr. Rodney: When we were watching that Limitless, he actually showed a lady that would expose herself. You, you know, you saw her getting into the. Cutting a hole open in the ice.

[07:45] Karen: Yeah.

[07:46] Dr. Rodney: And she would wear this cold weather gear. But I'm, I would imagine it's still pretty cold when you go under the ice.

[07:52] Karen: Yes.

[07:53] Dr. Rodney: And she had one of those fins and she'd had some kind of trauma in a car collision.

[07:57] Karen: Yes. And this was the only thing that kept that inflammation and pain.

[08:01] Dr. Rodney: Isn't that something?

[08:02] Karen: Yeah, yeah, it was. It was kind of weird to see her swimming under the ice.

[08:07] Dr. Rodney: But then we did it again, didn't we? We talked about an extreme.

[08:10] Karen: We talked about someone going under the ice. That's not what we're talking about now. I think that's what scares people away from this because, like, I think you're right.

[08:19] Dr. Rodney: We actually have a health partner that took us up on this. He took the challenge and they happen to have a swimming pool. And right here, boosting the mood is something that he's noticed.

[08:31] He likes to balance his hormones naturally. He likes to have his Mood balanced naturally. And guess what it does. It actually helps your body suppress cortisol.

[08:43] You wouldn't think that it would because you'd think that you're releasing stress hormones, but it's the opposite.

[08:49] Karen: Wow. So that actually activates the body's pain control system as well.

[08:55] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[08:56] Karen: All those different hormones in. Wow.

[09:01] Dr. Rodney: So palm seas, in other words, pro opio, melanocordin, POMC endorphins and keflins, you know, basically painkilling type, naturally secreted hormones and neurotransmitters. What else? You know, you mentioned before we, before we started this and I asked you, hey, how's it going?

[09:24] Because, you know, it seemed like something was going on and to that you said, I'm just relaxed.

[09:32] That's what the heat shock effect does to you.

[09:36] Karen: Because we did go to the sauna.

[09:37] Dr. Rodney: Today and we love this guy named Jesse Coomer.

[09:41] Love his stuff. And one of the things that he said is that anything that you do that's extreme will actually be a stimulus to your body that it has to respond to and it takes energy to do so.

[09:54] Cold shock is one of those things that does that. And it feels like you worked out, right?

[09:59] Karen: Yeah. Because it. It activated your metabolism.

[10:03] And the other thing that it does for you is if you want to sleep really well, take a cold shower. You did that last night and it worked.

[10:14] Did it really?

[10:15] Dr. Rodney: Absolutely. I slept straight through and woke up when I saw a light under the door. That's my signal that Karen's awake.

[10:23] She's the early bird, if you haven't figured that out yet.

[10:26] Karen: Yes. So what happens is between 60 and 67 degrees, it lowers your core temperature and that facilitates the sleep because temperature is a strong driver of circadian rhythm.

[10:40] Dr. Rodney: Isn't that something that. Our thermostat at our house is set at 60.

[10:45] Karen: Yes. Which is during the winter, not in the summer, because we're watching the bills. But we love it. And it is so comfortable for sleeping.

[10:56] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[10:57] Karen: Wow.

[10:57] Dr. Rodney: It sure is. And so right away everybody will say, well, of course it raises your alertness and sharpness and focus.

[11:07] As soon as you hop into the tub full of water and or jump into a cold shower, it's going to give you that. But what we're talking about is the after effects of it, right?

[11:18] Karen: Yes. And when we put ice in our bathtub and get in, it does increase your oxygen level because you take in some extra breaths just to adjust.

[11:33] Dr. Rodney: But you're also, if you're very intentional about it, you're using controlled breathing.

[11:40] Karen: Yeah.

[11:41] Dr. Rodney: And the deeper you're breathing and the, the more increased your breathing is, the more likely that you're increasing your body's breathing heat. Right. With all those extra muscles that it takes to breathe deeply.

[11:54] Karen: And what I find I do this is getting bleeding over into the how, but I don't want to forget it is that when I'm getting ready to get into the bathtub with ice in it, I talk to myself, I say, self, this is helping you for all these reasons we're giving you and you're going to survive it and it's going to feel great.

[12:13] And I find that if I just get in and submerge my body, then it does start to feel good. But you have to convince that self survival part that says I'm not doing that.

[12:29] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. If you don't think you can do it, then you're, you're right. But if you channel it. So we're getting into the how again. I almost did a how.

[12:37] Karen: Well, just a couple, three more. How about your resilience?

[12:41] Dr. Rodney: There's some evidence out there that suggests that when you talk about the business end or the, the, the, the copy and the recopy, every time that you use portions of your DNA, the telomeres typically get shorter.

[12:57] Well this 10. This tends to lengthen telomeres in, in some research that's out there. And so resilience by factor of. You're only as young as your mitochondria. We're talking about the possibility of mitochondrial DNA changing also.

[13:15] Karen: Wow. And also what happens when you stress yourself just a little bit and you come against that fight or flight response and you go, oh, I can do this, I can do anything.

[13:26] It does give you a sense of power.

[13:29] Dr. Rodney: What is that thing you said? If it does, it's like if it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger. This is, this is one of those things that's getting closer to the extreme.

[13:39] Yeah, I could see that.

[13:41] Karen: Yeah.

[13:42] Dr. Rodney: Well, what about enhancing cognitive function?

[13:46] All of these things. If you have less inflammation in your whole body, it'll be less systemic inflammation in your gut and therefore less inflammation in your brain.

[13:57] Karen: Wow, that's a good connection. Yeah, I had never thought of it exactly in that way.

[14:02] That that's going to make my brain be more alert. But that the inflammation part. Wow, that's good.

[14:11] Dr. Rodney: So the stress response is very typically.

[14:14] When you get a stress response that the blood will typically go from the core to the extremities. Right. And so the, the opposite, this is a forced version of that reverse of that is that the, that the blood typically is encouraged away from the extremities in order to survive.

[14:37] Yeah. Isn't that interesting?

[14:39] Karen: That is so interesting.

[14:40] Dr. Rodney: That is stimulating. The opposite of sympathetic.

[14:43] Karen: Yeah.

[14:44] Dr. Rodney: Okay, so that's. And that's another thing that would help you enhance cognitive function is that it's the anti stress.

[14:51] Karen: And along with that resilience is a sense of I can do this.

[14:56] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[14:56] Karen: I mean, you're like, you're saying you're surrounded by people that go, oh, it's so cold. Of course, we live here in Texas. We don't know what cold really is, but when we get it, there's like extreme drops rapidly.

[15:09] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was. What was it? It was from 60 around that, you know, the midnight hour all the way down to. That was the. That was the warmest point.

[15:19] Point.

[15:19] Karen: It was at midnight, by the way, which is crazy. And then the cold came in.

[15:23] Dr. Rodney: So what, what is this? What do you suppose connecting to yourself, your true self has to do with.

[15:29] Karen: What does that mean you can get through anything?

[15:32] I think that we run from things. Things like a couple of the people that we've introduced this to that have just rejected it completely. I know in one case, one young man basically says, I'm not doing that because I was cold when I was a kid and I promised myself.

[15:52] I don't know if that's a self vow, but I'm going to make enough money to use as much hot water as I want. And so when you think of it in those terms, basically exposing yourself to cold, choosing to do it seems foolish to that person.

[16:08] Dr. Rodney: Right? Yeah.

[16:10] Karen: And you have the choice.

[16:12] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. And we're not speaking to anybody out there that heat exposure is inferior. We're just saying we can do heat exposure and cold exposure. We want to talk to you if you're even interested.

[16:26] Karen: Okay. So here's some how's.

[16:28] Dr. Rodney: I like the how's.

[16:29] Karen: Turn down the thermostat.

[16:31] Dr. Rodney: Turn down the thermostat. During the winter, so maybe like a degree per week or a degree per day or something along those lines so it's not so, so freakishly chance, you know, like it doesn't happen so suddenly and so rapidly.

[16:45] Karen: Yeah, yeah. In the summer we put it down even cooler, but in the winter It's. It's at 60 right now and it's very comfortable.

[16:57] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. We have let it dip below 60, but it just gets to be too much sometimes.

[17:03] Karen: Well, when the, when the wind is blowing outside. Okay, that's one. The next one is one of my favorite because it helps with the lymphatic system, which I learned with the Sirona, that one of the things that we ask them to do to flush out the lymphatic system is to go from hot to cold between five and seven times.

[17:21] Now that can be very, I mean, very gradual. For example, day one, end on cold and turn it off one second after it turns to cold. But after that, do one iteration and then two.

[17:36] So some. It's like this. When it's hot, you turn it over to where it gets cold, and then as soon as you start to feel cold, you turn it back to hot.

[17:43] That little bit in between is giving you the two. Sure. Especially extreme.

[17:49] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[17:49] Karen: And like Jesse Coomer says, it doesn't have to be in the 40s.

[17:57] Dr. Rodney: No.

[17:57] Karen: In fact, most times the water is what it is.

[18:03] Dr. Rodney: We're getting it when we cool it. It's getting into the 60s and 70s during the summer because the water is just so warm, it melts the ice. You need a lot of ice, right?

[18:12] Karen: Yeah.

[18:13] Dr. Rodney: When we do cold exposure.

[18:14] Karen: Yes.

[18:15] Dr. Rodney: You start to actually benefit at 80 degrees.

[18:18] Karen: Wow. Because your body, it's cooler than your port.

[18:21] Dr. Rodney: Right.

[18:21] Karen: You're bringing your core temperature down and.

[18:23] Dr. Rodney: Most ideally below 60. Beginning at 60.

[18:26] Karen: And did you know that you can just put your hands and feet in cold water and get benefit if you're not ready for your core?

[18:33] Dr. Rodney: Isn't that something? Yeah. Or your face or your neck.

[18:36] Karen: Yes. And so that's, that's really good.

[18:39] And you know, when you get a little bit more serious about it, you can actually get like, we do ice for our bathtub, but we haven't been doing that lately.

[18:50] And I think that has affected even resilience as far as different catching a little bit of a cold from not having done that. Because I don't remember doing that last year when we were doing this.

[19:02] So it's a good reminder to us.

[19:04] Dr. Rodney: So here's one that I love because I, I like to. I, I like the idea that Jesse Coomer is talking about. He says go for a winter walk.

[19:12] Karen: Yes.

[19:13] Dr. Rodney: Some of you want to get out.

[19:14] Karen: Not necessarily like Dr. Rodney.

[19:16] Dr. Rodney: Oh.

[19:17] Karen: One year he went out with that shirt and with that, his shoes on and there was snow on the ground here in Texas.

[19:24] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[19:25] Karen: And I have the video to prove it.

[19:26] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. I actually do put shoes on now.

[19:29] Karen: Do you?

[19:29] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[19:30] Karen: Okay.

[19:30] Dr. Rodney: Last year I put shoes on, but.

[19:32] Karen: You take your shirt off.

[19:33] Dr. Rodney: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just put a backpack on and have some. The recommendation is to take some warm weather or cool weather gear with you. Just As a backpack.

[19:45] Karen: Right, right. Well, we'll see if we actually get some snow the end of this week. We'll. We'll see. If you do that and just go out there on the, on the, in the cold temperature, are there any other ways that people could just get started?

[19:59] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, I, like you said, I think it, I think it in some degrees, to some degree, I think it's the attitude toward it.

[20:07] Maybe, maybe if you've moved to a southern state you tried to like there. I've just known people that are like snowbirds, like, they go to Florida to get away from the New York or.

[20:19] Karen: North and then back north to get away from the heat.

[20:22] Dr. Rodney: Just. There's an aspect of it that maybe you're on the fence just a little bit. Maybe if I'm talking to you as. And you're on the fence, you go, well, yeah, okay, I did.

[20:32] I'll admit it. I'm spoiled by the winters in whatever state, you know, below Atlanta, Georgia, maybe you move to do that, embrace some of the cold. Just, hey, if it gets to be below 50 degrees, wait a second or so before you put your jacket on.

[20:50] Karen: Oh, that's a good idea.

[20:51] Dr. Rodney: What do you think of that?

[20:52] Karen: Yeah, I love that. And I think. Talk to yourself.

[20:55] I love the weather. I love the day that we have today. It's a good day. I'm not going to complain. I think that we complain ourselves into.

[21:04] Dr. Rodney: A hole, don't we?

[21:05] Karen: Yeah, Well, I say we. The tendency is to find something we cannot control and complain about it. I have yet to hear someone complain about something they are doing because they could change it.

[21:18] But we complain a lot about weather. And I think this is one of the biggest starts is stop complaining and go, wow. I want to become more resilient. I want my body to burn fat better.

[21:30] And I want to have. Be in a better mood.

[21:34] And whether you have access to a cold swimming pool, that's another one. Jump in it like our health partner does. And he said it was, I think he said it was in the 40s.

[21:46] Dr. Rodney: Oh, yeah. Wow. Impressive.

[21:48] Karen: So he says that he's the only one in the family that will do it, but he notices that he feels better.

[21:55] Dr. Rodney: That's amazing. That's. That's, that's getting cold.

[21:58] Karen: Yeah.

[21:59] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. I. Again, I think it's another thing right along with your, what you're saying about attitude is if you, if you're, if you're thinking and you didn't know that cold exposure benefits you like this and it doesn't bug you that much.

[22:14] That cold. You know, consider it. Consider some of these things.

[22:17] Karen: Or if it does and you want to just move the needle a little bit, because that's what stance is about.

[22:23] Simple changes that will prolong your life. The research has shown that you increase longevity through sauna and polar bear experiences.

[22:35] Dr. Rodney: And what was it? I think it was 80 degrees with the water.

[22:40] That if. If you just let the water get cool enough to 80 degrees and then that's considered cold exposure.

[22:50] That. That's actually. You can get hypothermia from that, by the way, if you're in it long enough. But that your sick days will actually drop.

[22:58] Karen: Yes.

[22:58] Dr. Rodney: By 30%.

[22:59] Karen: Yes.

[23:00] Dr. Rodney: I think that's the cutoff.

[23:01] Karen: Is that was the cut off from that research. Yeah. Isn't that incredible? 80 doesn't seem that bad, does it?

[23:07] Dr. Rodney: No. Now. Now it does if it's a hundred and something outside. 80 degrees seems cool at first. You know, when you first get in the water.

[23:14] Karen: Yeah.

[23:15] Dr. Rodney: Right. So I. That's. That's all I've got.

[23:18] Karen: I love it. I'm going to re. Jump in.

[23:23] Dr. Rodney: Re.

[23:24] Karen: Jump in. That's not a word. I'm going to get back into cold explosion. How about you?

[23:28] Dr. Rodney: I'm right there with you.

[23:29] Karen: Okay. Let us know how it goes. We love sharing these principles with you because we want you to be able to take your Stance for Health.