Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. He has made numerous important contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function, and neural plasticity. He is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation fellow and recipient of the 2017 Cogan Award for his discoveries in the study of vision. Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford Medicine has been consistently published in top journals including Nature, Science, and Cell.
Cold Exposure
If you want to get more resilient, cold exposure is great anytime. Post cold exposure, your body is going to heat up. Think of your body heating up as a way of waking up. Thus, if you are concerned about not being able to sleep, then it would be recommended to do cold exposure earlier in the day.
Cold exposure could be getting into cold showers, taking ice baths, cold plunge baths etc. Upon getting into cold water, studies have found that the changes in adrenaline and noradrenalin, epinephrine and norepinephrine, were immediate and fast. There were huge increases, only from getting into the cold water. Furthermore, what’s interesting is that they observed there was increase in dopamine from cold water exposure of this kind was comparable to what one sees from cocaine, except in this case it was not a rise followed by a crash. It was actually a sustained rise in dopamine that took a very long time, up to three hours, to come back down to baseline.
Avoid uncomfortably cold immersion, e.g. ice baths and being submerged in cold water up to the neck, within the 4 hours after a training session that is designed to evoke an adaptation either endurance, hypertrophy or strength, because the inflammation that you experience from a hard workout is the stimulus by which that you are going to adapt to. The cold water immersion reduces inflammation and can short circuit some of that (reduce some of the effect of that hard workout). After four hours you are probably okay, but if you can do it a different day, or you can do it before such hard workout sessions that would be better.
Heat Exposure
According to Huberman, studies have found that evening time heat exposure increases growth hormone release by 16 times, but subsequent sessions of the same only increase it by a very small margin. While you are in the deliberate heat exposure (e.g. sauna), you are going to heat up, but afterwards it should be noted that there is a post heating dip in temperature.
Heat exposure (sauna), however, can be done immediately after training and it could be beneficial because of the way that it dilates the vascular system and perfuses the muscles and ligaments, etc. with more nutrients. That being said, Dr. Huberman suggests that taking a sauna 2-3 hours after exercise is more beneficial as it allows your body temperature to return to baseline after exercise and then leverages the sauna-induced temperature increase for potential muscle recovery benefits.
Sauna sessions can provide an immediate boost to growth hormone levels, which is particularly beneficial when healing an injury or during a hard training phase. However, the effects decrease with repeat use, so it’s best to use this protocol periodically.
Protocol: 25-30 min in the sauna, followed by 5-10 min of passive rest/shower. Repeat this for 2-4 rounds occasionally, aiming for a total session of 1-2 hours.
The heat stress from the sauna stimulates the pituitary gland to release growth hormone, which aids in tissue repair and growth. This can be particularly beneficial during periods of intense training or injury recovery.
Hydration
Proper hydration is key when using the sauna. As you sweat, your body loses water and essential electrolytes. To replenish these losses, it is recommended to drink at least 4.7 dl water for every 10 min spent in the sauna. Keep in mind to hydrate well before and after your sauna session.
How Cold or Hot?
Studies show that the threshold that you would want to hit each week to gain all the benefits
- for heat, is generally between 86 – 100 °C (187 – 212 °F), for a minimum of 57 min in total per week of sauna.
- for cold, cold enough that you really want to get out, but you can stay in safely. Minimum 11 min of uncomfortable, but safe cold exposure (in total per week).
Specific Sauna Protocols to Achieve Various Goals
- Growth Hormone Boost
25-30 min in the sauna, followed by 5-10 minutes of passive rest/shower. Repeat this for 2-4 rounds occasionally, aiming for a total session of 1-2 hours. - Heat Acclimation & Endurance
15-30 min in the sauna after training, followed by 5 min of passive rest/shower. Repeat this for 1-2 rounds, 3-4 times a week for 3 weeks. - Wellness & Longevity
12-20 min in the sauna, followed by 5-10 min in a shower or cold plunge. Repeat this for 1-3 rounds, 2-4 times a week. - Muscle Soreness, Mental Health & Mood
12-20 min in the sauna, followed by 5-10 min in a shower or cold plunge. Repeat this for 1-2 rounds as needed. - c
Sauna use has a physiological impact and should be factored into the overall training load. It is also advisable to avoid sauna sessions at least 48 hours before a competition.
Want to learn more about optimizing your health? Check out:
Healthy: How to Attain Max Physical & Mental Performance Across a Longer Healthspan
📚 Sources and References
- Endocrine effects of sauna bath (2020)
- Effect of hyperthermia and physical activity on circulating growth hormone (2008)
- Endocrine effects of repeated sauna bathing (1986)
- The Science & Health Benefits of Deliberate Heat Exposure | Huberman Lab Podcast #69 (1h 53min 10sec)
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