Heat Waves to Frigid Temperatures: How humans should be able to adjust.
This is one blog I have been positively excited to write. Because when clients and customers alike come to see me at Element Outdoor Sauna, every single person is baffled and mystified by what I teach them. Especially when it comes to the physiological demands of our bodies with temperature shifts.
It is very simple.
The average person walks around with cold hands and cold feet, as well as a generalized cold feeling. This is NOT NORMAL. To understand how to make the necessary reparations you must understand how the human thermoregulatory system operates. This is a simple fact.
IT IS NOT NORMAL OR ACCEPTED TO OPERATE IN ONE TEMPERATURE OVER THE OTHER. WE NEED BALANCE.
I hear these common issues all the time:
“What about people who live in (hot countries)”
“Climates you “prefer”
“I have always…. (fill in the blank)”
“I don;t like cold”
“I can;t handle the heat”
“I have tried the sauna or cold, it didn’t feel right”
“My body doesn’t like - heat/ cold”
“I am never balanced in temperature - I cannot regulate either way”
“I have sleep with socks on and/ or heating pad”
The list goes on and on…
All the above is your body, your thermostat screaming at you for HELP.
As a Certified Thermalist®, this is my study and I understand the crucial system that governs all other systems. The web and social media can be a dangerous place to seek understanding of the questions you have.
This is why you are reading this blog. This is why you have chosen to receive this complimentary bit of information that’ll give you some insight.
THE BARRIER OF YOUR BODY
We have a lot of informants or intel collectors on our flesh, and internally. (Thermo receptors). They communicate based on what they feel. When they feel cold or heat, the body begins a beautiful process to find balance - either to cool down or naturally heat up.
The problem is that over 90% of the world population today are operating with “broken” systems. The importance of contrast therapy for human life is not optional… It is a requirement. The modern day human is so off the track with the knowledge of the vessel and therefore, health, that we are seeing astronomical negative health implications which is leading to massive sicknesses and dysregulated balances.
WHAT TO DO???
There is always an easier preventative measure with consistency of practice and inventive ways to find the natural balance within. Contrast Therapy - when exercised WISELY - is the easiest, funnest, and quickest hormetic stressor that can target ALL THE BODY SYSTEMS inside and outside the body. As I have mentioned in the other blogs.
THE BIGGEST PROBLEM
People do not like to push themselves or they do not understand how to push in that smart way, when it comes to using contrast therapy. Here are few poor techniques and potential harmful practices:
Too much heat - not enough cold (ex. Hot yoga more than once per week if you are doing too much time in one chunk., or too much hot baths, or too much in and out time spent in saunas).
No cold - a lot of people avoid the cold
Cycles: There is no need for this practice. If you use the time wisely when in a sauna, aim for 20 minutes to max of 25 minutes in 100C dry heat, this is the sweet spot.
Stay away steam rooms - sess pool of bacteria, and wet or moist heat will overheat you, and or cause heat exhaustion.
People do not stay in the temperatures to get the benefits they seek
Heat exhaustion happens more often than you think
Most people do not get the minimum amount of cold per week
Too much heat - this can lessen immune health and harm the mitochondria = sick
Cold does NOT make you sick
People have no idea how to listen to their bodies
People follow what others do when in”spa” settings - does not mean they know what they are doing
ELEMENT OUTDOOR SAUNA PROTOCOL
I have designed a specific protocol here at Element Outdoor Sauna. It is for novice contrast therapy users, to the most experienced. The idea is to challenge ourselves, to provide that push.
COLD First, short break, HEAT 20-25 minutes, short break, COLD last. REST.
I provide you with proper breathing techniques as well as teaching you how to ground. Both extremely important aspects when it comes to putting ourselves through contrast therapy.
HANDLING EVERY DAY LIVING - HOT DAYS/ COLD DAYS
Saunaing in the summer is just as vital as when we sauna in winter. Personally, I use it more in the summer. Why, you ask? Well, it helps me lower my basal core temperature so I can easily handle the hot days of summer. My body is not overtaxed so I can be outdoors all day long with ease. My body is trained to handle, WITH EASE, the extreme temperatures. This means my body and being does not register the hot days as a “STRESSFUL” event thus not triggering my sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) = NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTH 101.
You see? And, I am relaxed and find an easier flow to calm and peacefulness. Not to mention all the other balanced systems of health, like hormones, vascular and cellular.
ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS do this….
End with cold. The cold is still essential in summer. Cold is essential all year long… even more than the heat, or hot days.
It is the heat we (mammals) must not over do.
IN WINTER or COLDER CLIMATES:
Cold dips and showers help build immune health. (too much heat can destroy it) YUPPER you heard this correctly.
Cold = vasoconstriction - Is fundamental to all of us MAMMALS. In the icy cold we exercise the vascular system like mad, in a great way. The necessary way.
**For more in - depth knowledge and understanding - BOOK 1:1 Coaching sessions with me. You will FEEL the difference and have immediate gratification after just one session!
RECAP:
SUMMER - Contrast Therapy we still do the heat. Training your resiliency by pushing ourselves in that smart way, helps us go into homeostasis with ease. Consistency is crucial. 2-3 times per week is optimal. Always have that cold to offset the heat as well.
Cold showers every day. If you need more than one per day… do it.
As mammals, we REQUIRE cold temperatures. We should have a minimum of 12 minutes of intense cold per week. MINIMUM.
Nice and short blog here. I wanted to get to the point and keep your attention.
Do wonderful things for optimum beings - nature, outdoors, sunshine and contrast therapy in the smart way.
Denise Tompkins
Purveyor of thermal alignment
Certified Thermalist and owner of Element Outdoor Sauna
info@elementoutdoorsauna.com
