Your Brain On... Cold Plunges

Dean Sherzai (0:00)

You've heard it on Joe Rogan, you've seen it on TikTok, it's been praised by CEOs, athletes and biohackers. Cold plunges are everywhere, from morning routines in Montana, to influencer spas in Malibu. And the way they're talked about, you'd think they're a miracle cure for your brain, for your body and for your soul. But in this age of algorithm-fueled evangelism, when a ritual becomes this ubiquitous, this loud, we have to ask how much of the buzz is backed by science and how much is just really good storytelling.

Ayesha Sherzai (0:35)

From dopamine spikes to resilience myths, we're diving into the neuroscience of cold exposure, what's true, what's overstated, and why discomfort has become a billion-dollar industry.

Dean Sherzai (0:47)

This is Your Brain On Cold Plunges.

I'm excited to speak about this topic, and I'll be honest, I took a lot of time to prepare for this topic because I have some bias against it. I absolutely loathe being cold. You know this. That's not good grounds for diving into...

Ayesha Sherzai (1:09)

Is that the cold bias?

Dean Sherzai (1:10)

The cold bias.

Ayesha Sherzai (1:11)

That's a new logical fallacy.

Dean Sherzai (1:13)

It might be. It might be. I wanted to learn about what this whole thing was about. And there's been so many podcasts and so many articles and so many individuals who are on social media and not on social media have spoken about this and have written about it. There have been books written about it and it's kind of this movement. And it's interesting that there's an anthropology human side to it and then there's the science part of it.

Ayesha Sherzai (1:35)

And a whole lot of sociology.

Dean Sherzai (1:37)

Talk to us about that.

Ayesha Sherzai (1:38)

Yeah, I mean, when you see this kind of a movement, this fast, you have to understand that it's not going to be massive new research that we've discovered. It's rare in science to have that kind of a breakthrough. In the age of social media, we've had multiple, basically awareness revolutions that has just taken over social media with magical properties of certain things as far as health is concerned. Ketogenic diet was one of those.

Dean Sherzai (2:05)

Right, that's true.

Ayesha Sherzai (2:06)

And what was attributed to them was miraculous outcomes. And then when you go to literature, the hype, the volume of conversation about its positive effect is not often matched by the research. Or even if it is, I'm okay with that. But what intrigues me is what's behind these incredible fast movements? There's usually some intrinsic streams, intrinsic social streams. In some cases, it's a political stream. In some cases, it's a group of people that identify themselves in a certain way that want to kind of push a certain dialogue, a certain narrative. Ketogenic diet without a question was driven by a meat-centered bias.

We still are exploring the utility of ketogenic diet in small measures here and there, and we should continue to do so. But the force behind it was the fact that people attributed or correlated ketogenic diet with meat. And even when they didn't know the signs behind ketogenic diet, which was actually neurological for seizures and things of that nature, they just attributed to one category. So it was the movement of resistance to change or retaining a certain bit of capacities or needs that a group of people connected themselves to. An outcome, which is a scientific outcome. And it was powerful.

Dean Sherzai (3:21)

I think the ketogenic diet at least had some signs behind it for a group of population. I think the carnivore dietary movement is, you know, equivalent to what you're saying. Like it had a lot of the sociology, almost a cultish mentality, group-based thinking process without much research or any research.

Ayesha Sherzai (3:41)

They all have some sociology. We are plant-based. And I'll tell you, the plant-based movement has a significant bias that's driving it. There's the animal rights, there's the environment, and then there's this group aspect. And that can become problematic when you become driven by the social connectivity and the language that connects you beyond the science becomes a bigger driver than the science. And we've seen that often. And how even in the plant-based movement, there are things that are pushed that are not science-based.

Dean Sherzai (4:10)

I agree.

Ayesha Sherzai (4:10)

This human species going through this journey of self-knowledge, self-knowing, self-identity, figuring out what's pulling him this way and that way. And especially at a time where we have to do that. Together, no camps, no groups, no silos, critical thinking and data. It's an unusual start, but I'm sorry, I'm gonna start everything that way. Because it's important.