Your kid needs therapy: how heat and cold exposure affects health, wellbeing and ADHD.
Are saunas and ice baths safe and effective for children?
“The reason the body adapts to anything is through a survival mechanism. If you’re not challenging it, it has no impetus to adapt.”
- Brad Schoenfeld
Does a sauna a day keep the doctor away? Heat and cold exposure have been used for thousands of years, with awareness of their benefits gaining traction over the last decade, largely due to the growing influence of health and fitness podcasts like Andrew Huberman and Dr Rhonda Patrick. However, these protocols are only discussed in the context of adults. Whether they are beneficial and, more importantly, safe for kids, largely goes undiscussed.
Are saunas and ice baths safe for children?
The short answer is yes. Cooler parts of the world, like Scandinavia, have culturally ingrained these practices, where most 2-year-olds have had sauna exposure. It’s also common for babies to nap outside in the cold or experience a cold plunge. It is, however, important for children to ease into both, starting with cold showers, hot baths and shorter durations before slowly building up a tolerance. Also, as a child’s ability to regulate their core temperature is more limited, understanding the research, and having adult supervision is vital.
The science behind heat and cold exposure
Both protocols trigger significant health benefits by challenging our body’s stress response. Although this sounds counter-intuitive as we are constantly, and rightly, told how bad stress is for us, the difference is that it’s controlled short-term exposure vs uncontrolled long-term exposure, in the same way that weight lifting shocks our system to adapt and become stronger.
Cold exposure
Wimm Hoff, aka the ice-man, more famous for his breathing practices, has been preaching about the benefits of cold exposure for years, yet, it’s only really gone mainstream recently as more aesthetically pleasing, less homeless-looking fitness influencers have made it cool. 11 minutes a week in uncomfortably cold water is enough to have a significant positive impact and this can be achieved by filling a bath/specialised tubs of ice; sea swimming and easiest of all, cold showers.
Benefits of cold exposure
Blood pressure. The process temporarily restricts blood vessels, increasing blood pressure and promoting positive cardiovascular adaptation.
Energy and focus. By stimulating the release of noradrenaline, it increases alertness and the urge to move and communicate. These neurochemicals hang around long after exposure, which benefits mental/physical activities
Resilience. Taking on voluntary short-term stress develops mental discipline and biologically prepares your body and mind to deal with real-life stressors.
Mood. The prolonged release of dopamine from cold exposure trumps any short-term, easy-access sources like social media. This results in lasting improvements in our mood and explains the current wave of internet addicts.
Recovery. Exposure can reduce muscle soreness and improve muscle power after intense exercise. However, a plunge less than 4 hours after exercise can limit hypertrophy.
Heat exposure
Saunas, spas and hot baths have been around for thousands of years, especially in Northern Europe where a study over two decades found that a sauna 4-7 times a week reduces all-cause mortality (dying of anything) by 40%. Even though saunas are the most effective heat exposure, steam rooms, hot baths and hot showers are also beneficial.
Benefits of heat exposure
Cardiovascular health. Heat increases your heart rate, and blood flow, expanding your blood vessels as your body tries to cool itself down, which is similar to the effects and benefits of exercise. Increasing the length and frequency correlates with decreased cardiovascular disease.
Heat acclimation. Physical adaptations like cardiovascular efficiency increase blood flow to muscles and enhance thermoregulatory function and athletic performance in hot conditions.
Cell repair. Heat shock proteins and antioxidants are released as a protective measure against heat stress in order to adapt for future exposure and repair damaged cells.
Prolactin production. A hormone essential to brain processing speed, nerve cell repair and myelin growth can be increased by 900%.
Mental health. Endorphins are released in the brain, which causes an increase in mood, after suffering through the sauna which has positive effects on depression, cognitive decline and neuron growth.
Stress response. Saunas decrease cortisol levels.
Inflammation reduction. Increased blood flow and the trigger of anti-inflammatory proteins help recovery and inflammation.
Saunas and ADHD
ADHD is often caused by the brain reabsorbing noradrenaline and dopamine too quickly, which is why medication is designed to regulate this mechanism and slow the process down. As these neurotransmitters are essential to focus and attention, the fact that regular sauna use can increase our noradrenaline levels by 310% for prolonged periods means that it could be a viable treatment. Furthermore, excessive exposure to heavy metals has been associated with symptoms of ADHD and ASD. Since sweat is the primary pathway for eliminating these toxins from our body, increasing our sweat production through sauna use can effectively enhance the detoxification process, helping rid our system of heavy metals and other harmful substances.
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