Dr. Andy Galpin

If you are chronically under-exercised, start exercising more. If you are really off, particularly if you are low in caloric intake, you're hypocaloric for too long, this might have a chronic effect of bringing more calories back. And then there are things like, again, thermal exposure that can have a chronic effect, but most of that stuff is pretty direct and acute.

Give you a really easy example. I've been doing a cold water immersion, cold water exposures for a very long time. I do not use them because I think it adds a minute to my life. I do not use them to burn more fat. You guys can all debate whether or not you think those things exist. But for me, we have used it for stuff like this. We actually ran a bunch of experiments.

Give you a really easy example. I've been doing a cold water immersion, cold water exposures for a very long time. I do not use them because I think it adds a minute to my life. I do not use them to burn more fat. You guys can all debate whether or not you think those things exist. But for me, we have used it for stuff like this. We actually ran a bunch of experiments.

We never published this stuff. We didn't take it through IRB. We just ran it with a bunch of our athletes. And what we found was if you look at somebody's HRV very specifically, and then you put them in a cold bath, cold water for two to five minutes. How cold? I don't know. In American units here, somewhere between 30 to 50 degrees. It didn't really matter that much, to be honest.

We never published this stuff. We didn't take it through IRB. We just ran it with a bunch of our athletes. And what we found was if you look at somebody's HRV very specifically, and then you put them in a cold bath, cold water for two to five minutes. How cold? I don't know. In American units here, somewhere between 30 to 50 degrees. It didn't really matter that much, to be honest.

And you sat them there. Here's what would happen. Your HRV immediately post the ice bath when you got out would go down. No surprise. If you get in cold, really cold water, you get shot immediately into sympathetic drive. Low HRV. Remember, fight or flight. However, as quickly as 30 minutes post, your HRV will be 10 to 20% higher than more down-regulated than you were before the cold.

And you sat them there. Here's what would happen. Your HRV immediately post the ice bath when you got out would go down. No surprise. If you get in cold, really cold water, you get shot immediately into sympathetic drive. Low HRV. Remember, fight or flight. However, as quickly as 30 minutes post, your HRV will be 10 to 20% higher than more down-regulated than you were before the cold.

And that continued to increase for about the next three hours or so. And we ran this stuff by actually checking HRV like every 15 minutes for several hours. So we had 30 minutes post, 45 minutes post, 60 minutes post, et cetera, et cetera, all the way up to 180 posts, and we stopped measuring at that.

And that continued to increase for about the next three hours or so. And we ran this stuff by actually checking HRV like every 15 minutes for several hours. So we had 30 minutes post, 45 minutes post, 60 minutes post, et cetera, et cetera, all the way up to 180 posts, and we stopped measuring at that.

And still, 180 minutes post-cold water immersion, HRV was higher, significantly higher, 25 to 50%, depending on the person, higher. three hours after the cold bath. And so while I know that most of us think about it as like that short-term thing, No, I don't have peer-reviewed publications on this, but we saw this enough to where I was like, yeah, okay, great.

And still, 180 minutes post-cold water immersion, HRV was higher, significantly higher, 25 to 50%, depending on the person, higher. three hours after the cold bath. And so while I know that most of us think about it as like that short-term thing, No, I don't have peer-reviewed publications on this, but we saw this enough to where I was like, yeah, okay, great.

And it also stacked up with what I feel. It's going to last today. Now, will this last weeks and months? I don't know. Don't think so. Probably, if I had to guess. But it certainly will give you a nice acute bump. And by acute, I mean several hours and several days, right? If you hate the ice, you think it is terrible or you don't like it at all, fine. I got 50 more examples I can give you.

And it also stacked up with what I feel. It's going to last today. Now, will this last weeks and months? I don't know. Don't think so. Probably, if I had to guess. But it certainly will give you a nice acute bump. And by acute, I mean several hours and several days, right? If you hate the ice, you think it is terrible or you don't like it at all, fine. I got 50 more examples I can give you.

It's just one that showed up as really clear evidence to us. Changing gears entirely. You can do this without moving your physical body at all, without suffering, by just doing what are called visual resets. Mentioned him a couple of times now, but thank you, Dr. Andrew Huberman. Some of his early podcasts on his platform, his show, talked a lot about this.

It's just one that showed up as really clear evidence to us. Changing gears entirely. You can do this without moving your physical body at all, without suffering, by just doing what are called visual resets. Mentioned him a couple of times now, but thank you, Dr. Andrew Huberman. Some of his early podcasts on his platform, his show, talked a lot about this.

But visual resets, I know his lab worked on it a lot, are really compelling and really effective. Lots of ways you can do this. There are simple drills like eye circles. So you stand there and basically run a big loop with your eyes circling around. That will change your sympathetic drive.

But visual resets, I know his lab worked on it a lot, are really compelling and really effective. Lots of ways you can do this. There are simple drills like eye circles. So you stand there and basically run a big loop with your eyes circling around. That will change your sympathetic drive.

Other ones that, again, my colleague Emily Hightower I know uses a lot are things like a smooth H. You can see this, and the literature is really clear here. There's lots of different cortical and visual resets, but this stuff is really fantastic and super effective. A different one entirely. that I think a lot of you exercisers and strength trainers will like. It's a modified valsalva maneuver.

Other ones that, again, my colleague Emily Hightower I know uses a lot are things like a smooth H. You can see this, and the literature is really clear here. There's lots of different cortical and visual resets, but this stuff is really fantastic and super effective. A different one entirely. that I think a lot of you exercisers and strength trainers will like. It's a modified valsalva maneuver.

The valsalva maneuver is that intra-abdominal pressure that you create when you're doing things like lifting weights or having a bowel movement. This is exactly how you use it. Again, we're still talking about chronic or acute rather. This is something you're going to do right now.