Cold Plunge for Trauma? With Thomas Seager

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Thomas P. Seager is an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering & the Built Environment at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ. Seager leads research teams working at the boundaries of engineering and social science to understand innovation for resilient infrastructure systems and the life-cycle environmental consequences of emerging energy technologies. He also serves as co-founder and CEO of two startup companies: 1) Morozko Forge, a leading manufacturer of ice baths for biohacking, and 2) Upgrade Engineering, a technology company for the Circular Economy.

00:02:10 Introducing Thomas Seager
00:05:50 You get to choose what things mean for you
00:09:10 This Is Water: Thoughts on living a compassionate life
00:11:38 Complacency and living in the "Happy Middle"
00:13:17 Scientists are hopeless at communicating 
00:15:55 The only advice worth listening to
00:19:28 Parenting as a survivor of childhood trauma
00:23:37 What is epigenetically transferred trauma?
00:27:21 The meaning is more important than the experience
00:32:38 How ice baths help build psychological resilience
00:41:25 How trauma is held in the body
00:44:28 It's time you started working on your trauma
00:49:24 Understanding thyroid function and cold intolerance
00:55:09 The Morozko method and deliberate cold exposure
00:59:04 How cold exposure improves heart rate variability
01:01:57 Most searched questions on cold plunging
01:04:32 Cold plunging - How long is too long?
01:11:47 How to rewarm yourself after a cold plunge
01:17:05 Cold plunges for inflammation
01:19:58 Is cold exposure good for pregnant and breastfeeding women?
01:25:54 Testosterone in women
01:30:40 Collecting testosterone data in women
01:33:30 Parting thoughts 

The Only Advice Worth Listening To
The only advice worth listening to is from someone you admire who says, this is what worked for me, and this is what didn't work for me. When someone you admire shares what they did and what they regret doing when they were in a similar situation, that's the advice you want to follow. If you'd like people to think of you as an expert in your field, go to substack for example, and break some rules. Share things that are specifically about you, the experiences you've had, your wins and losses. And they don't have to be all positive; you shouldn't even be proud of some of them. But they should be out there. Why? Because you don't want your kids, your audience, or your students to think that you're perfect. Perfection in life puts pressure on those that admire you because they believe they have to be perfect too. Whatever mistakes you've made, your kids, your students, or your audience should be able to say, thank God he did it instead of me. And they might sit in judgment about what a fool you are because of the things that you screwed up. But that's okay. 

Releasing Trauma Through Ice Baths
Trauma is a shock to the body's normal operating system. So when you're faced with a traumatic event, and that shock is stored instead of released, it can cause mental and physical health issues down the road. Interestingly, when trauma occurs, the brain temporarily shuts down your memory processing system. This act is an effort to protect itself, and so the experience is instead stored as fragments in the body.
So how do we get rid of trauma that's stored in the body? According to Dr. Steager, cold exposure is one of the easiest to release trauma from the body. Whether done in a modern cold plunge tub or the middle of a freezing river, dipping your body in icy waters has some serious physical and mental benefits. Inflammation is a big one because most of us live with chronic inflammation without even realizing it. When you immerse yourself in cold water, it instantly numbs the nerves surrounding your joints and muscles. This causes the release of hormones and endorphins that acts as an analgesic, which is responsible for relieving inflammation and alleviating muscle strain and joint pain.

Links and Resources:
Dr. Seager's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaspseager/
Dr. Seager on Substack https://seagertp.substack.com/
Dr. Seager's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/seagertp/

Books:
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl 
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma by Peter A. Levine
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Survival of the Sickest: The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity by Dr. Sharon Moalem

Meta-Description
Dr. Thomas P. Seager shares exactly how we can use cold plunging to release trauma, fight chronic inflammation, and live a natural life in an unnatural world. He also answers whether cold exposure is good for pregnant and breastfeeding women and how both men and women can use ice baths to increase their testosterone.