The cold plunge, and how to stop dreading it

Nearly every sauna in this directory has some form of cold water next to it: a plunge tub, a cold shower, a spring-fed pond, or in a couple of cases the River Avon. It's not a dare. The cold is half of what you came for, and it's the part that makes the session feel like something.

What it's for

Heat opens you up and makes you slack. Cold shuts you down fast and sharply. Breath catches, skin tightens, everything narrows to the next few seconds. Then you get out, and for ten minutes afterwards you feel alert and oddly calm at the same time.

That contrast is the whole mechanism. A sauna without a cold option is a warm room.

How long

Shorter than you think. Ten to sixty seconds is the normal range, and beginners should be at the bottom of it. Nobody is getting extra benefit at four minutes; they're mostly getting cold.

The useful marker is your breathing. You'll gasp when you get in. That's automatic and it passes in about fifteen seconds. Once you can breathe slowly and deliberately, you've done the thing. Get out.

Getting in

• Go in steadily, don't jump. Jumping into cold water is how people get into trouble.
• Breathe out as you enter, then keep exhaling longer than you inhale. It shortens the gasp reflex considerably.
• Keep your hands out of the water on your first few goes if it helps, because hands and feet feel the worst of it.
• Don't put your head under unless you're experienced and someone else is there.
• Warm up on your own, afterwards, by sitting still. Not with a hot shower straight away.

Who should be careful

Cold water puts a sharp load on your heart and your breathing. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, are pregnant, or have any history of fainting, ask a doctor before you start, and tell the staff on the day either way. Alcohol and cold plunges do not mix, and no venue here will let you in if you've been drinking.

If you feel dizzy, get out. That's a sign you've had enough, not a sign to push through.

Where in Bristol

Most venues have something. The ones with the best cold setups:

• Fire & Ice Wellness, Westbury: a natural spring-fed plunge pond plus ice baths, in a wildlife park
• Bristol Wild Sauna, Fishponds: two plunges held at 8°C
• Orchard Sauna, Bedminster: three cold plunges and a cold waterfall
• The Conscious Breath, Kingswood: oak barrel ice baths, plus guided breathwork sessions if you want coaching through it
• Field Trip Sauna, Hanham: the River Avon, which is as cold and as wild as it sounds

If you're nervous, start somewhere with a tub rather than open water. A tub you can step out of in one move, and there's always someone watching.

One thing worth knowing

The first three or four times are genuinely unpleasant and then something shifts. Most people who stick with it say the same thing: the dread goes before the cold does. Give it a month of weekly sessions before deciding it isn't for you.