Ice baths are my go-to recovery method for evenings and early mornings

Ice baths and the sauna are my recovery tools in the evenings and early mornings...

I thought I’d write down some thoughts about something that has become almost absurdly important to me over the past year: ice baths. Or cold plunges, or whatever you want to call them—my ice bath from Swedish Cold is certainly full of ice. I’m still shivering after my last five-minute plunge, and my body is flooded with endorphins. This is my account of a routine that actually helps me fall asleep at night and get out of bed in the morning.

It started as one of those things you try once just so you can say you've done it. You know: a friend posts a picture on Instagram with blue lips and the caption “wow, what a rush,” and you think, fine, I can do that too. And the first time was exactly as awful as you'd imagine. I stood in the ice bath for 45 seconds, got out, froze for an hour afterward, and swore I’d never do it again.

Then I took another ice bath two days later. And that was it.

What I hadn't anticipated was just how much it would change my evenings. I spend a lot of time working in front of a screen, often late into the night, and for years I would lie awake staring at the ceiling, my mind racing at 140 percent. Magnesium, melatonin, blackout curtains—I tried it all. It helped a little. But what actually helped me fall asleep was stepping out onto the balcony around 8:30 p.m., standing in cold water for two minutes, and then coming back inside to drink some tea.

I don't know exactly why ice baths work. People talk about the vagus nerve and dopamine and the body being forced into a parasympathetic state of rest afterward, and sure, that's probably true. But honestly, I think part of it is more mundane than that. It's two minutes where I can't think about anything except breathing. My phone is inside, work is inside—everything is inside. There's just me and the water and a pretty clear instinct that this is stupid and I should stop.

And that, I think, is the point of it all. You practice staying with something uncomfortable without running away. You notice it later, in other areas of life.

Mornings are a completely different story. In the evening, the ice bath is a way to wind down. In the morning, it’s pure fuel. I get up around six, walk straight outside wearing nothing but my underwear (I think the neighbors have stopped reacting), step in, and count slowly to ninety. By the time I come back inside, I’m awake in a way coffee has never managed to do. It’s not that jittery, coffee-induced alertness either, but something calmer. As if someone has turned up the contrast on the world.

What I’ve learned is not to overdo it. I almost went too far in January—five minutes, six minutes, trying to beat my own record. That’s not the point. Two minutes in the evening, a minute and a half in the morning. Any more than that and I’m simply cold, and then it’s no longer recovery—it’s just discomfort I can overcome. That’s a different sport.

One more thing. I don’t take an ice bath every day. I know there’s a culture around this where people go on 365-day streaks and post daily clips, and that’s fine for them, but I’ve noticed that my body pushes back when it becomes too much. Some weeks I do it four times. Some weeks, just once. When I have a cold or am genuinely exhausted, I skip it. It’s not an achievement—it’s a tool—and tools should be used when they’re needed.

If anyone reading this is thinking about trying ice baths: start with thirty seconds. Breathe slowly. Get out when it starts to feel genuinely wrong, not just hard—there’s a difference.

I know this sounds like every other article written about ice baths on the internet, and I’ve tried to avoid that. But the truth is that it’s one of the few things I’ve tried in the past ten years that has actually made a difference in both my evenings and my mornings, with no side effects and without me having to think of it as a treatment. It’s simply part of my daily routine now. Like brushing your teeth—only wetter.

And no, I don't have blue lips on Instagram. But I know I feel good and sleep well after taking an ice bath.