Extreme temperature exposure--any good?
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What's the consensus on extreme temperature exposure and its effects? The common belief is that these things are good for you--which seems to be derived from intuition/the good feeling you get from the dopamine/adrenaline/norepinephrine boost--but what are all the implications?
Yesterday I went to a russian bathhouse and alternated between going to the saunas/steam room (infrared, wood burning, steam) and taking a cold plunge. I would stay in the saunas for about 5-10 minutes (depending on comfort), and the cold plunge for exactly a minute, and did this 3 times. I also spent some time in a pool and in a hot tub. Today I feel awful--my muscles are extremely sore, I'm exhausted, brain fogged and my sleep was disrupted by pain in my lower back/legs. Granted I also got pretty drunk on russian beer shortly after this routine, and I know dehydration exacerbated these effects, but this does not feel like any normal hangover. It's as if I did a full body workout while being severely beaten by a russian with a rolling pin.
What are the Peaty thoughts on this? I can imagine that such sudden exposure to extreme temperatures would cause a spike in cortisol and possibly promote inflammation, but what are the benefits? I remember Ray saying that epidermal exposure to cold can increase metabolic rate (as in the more surface area of skin exposed the higher the response), but is this at the cost of a harmful hormonal response? Or did I just drink too much
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@fearfulsymmetry you severely dehydrated yourself and then got drunk and you think it was temperature fluctuations
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@Growtallerpast25 to be fair I drank a lot of water as well...
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Hi, I suggest that increasing body temperature as long as it's pleasant, is probably positive, if it reaches the point where it's uncomfortable and/or you have to force yourself to stay, it probably becomes negative
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@Truth What are the positive and negative effects though?