Ice Baths Saved My Sex Life
- Thomas P Seager, PhD
- Oct 3
- 5 min read
Summary
I got serious about ice bathing every day when my PSA blood labs came back too high. At 52 years old, I thought I was going to either die of prostate cancer or suffer permanent erectile dysfunction by prostatectomy. I chose to risk death.
Instead of following my doctor's advice, I started ice bathing every day. My PSA dropped, while my total testosterone, luteinizing hormone, libido, and sex function shot up.
Although my results have now been replicated by dozens of men and women, social media remains critical of cold plunge therapy.
This episode of the Uncommon Living podcast reveals the real science that supports cold plunge therapy, and corrects many of the misconceptions that Wim Hof Instructors often confront in their practice.
Cold Plunges, Prostate, and Sex Hormone Health
In Critics of Cold Plunge I wrote about the popular misconceptions that social media headlines promote about ice baths. I quoted scientists like Stacy Sims PhD and Layne Norton PhD who have made popular posts suggesting that ice baths are too stressful for women and will make you fat, respectively. Even Peter Attia MD, who has advocated for cold plunge therapy in the past, has recently joked that he thinks the main benefit is "looking good on Instagram with your shirt off."
What none of these critics seems to acknowledge is the way that a daily cold plunge practice boosts your sex life. I've written about this in several previous articles:
Ice Bath for Better Sex explains how cold will rejuvenate the mitochondria in the endothelial cells responsible for achieving and maintaining an erection
Cold Plunge Sex Health talks about the relationship between metabolism and fertility, and the way that cold plunger therapy supports sexual and reproductive health.
Meanwhile, in Boost Sexual Satisfaction I described the findings of a study conducted by the Czech Army in which they discovered their male and female soldiers both experienced improved sex lives after adopting a protocol of cold water swimming followed by light exercise for rewarming.
All of these articles are supported by the science of cold therapy, and the dozens of descriptions of personal experience that my readers send me, even if they're still ignored by the most popular social media health and wellness influencers.
However, I didn't start my own daily cold plunge practice because I was looking for a boost in my sex life. I only got serious about doing ice baths every day because I was afraid I was going to die.
I got a frightening blood lab result: my prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level came back at 7.0 ng/mL -- a level associated with elevated risk of prostate cancer. The medical pathway for a patient like me would ordinarily involve a painful biopsy, and depending on those results, possibly surgical removal of my prostate.
The men I'd talked to all told me that without a prostate, they could never again have an erection.
I was 52 years old, in the process of divorcing my wife, and I couldn't bear the thought of undergoing painful surgical procedures that would leave me impotent. So I decided I would try ice baths and a ketogenic diet instead.
It took me four months of ice bathing every single day before I had the courage to retest my PSA. I wrote the book Uncommon Testosterone about my experiences, but (spoiler alert) I'm going to tell you right here what happened.
It worked.
My PSA dropped to 1.1 ng/mL and, much to the surprise of my urologist, my total testosterone rose from the mid-700s to 1180 ng/dL. What almost no one understood at the time was that doing cold before exercise will boost testosterone in men, while doing it after exercise will lower testosterone. I explained all of this in What Happened to My Testosterone When Using Ice Baths for My Prostate.
To help spread the word, especially for women, I published Ice Bath Benefits Women and Ice Baths Boost Women's Hormonal Health. However, despite all the writing and posting and publishing and teaching I've been doing to publicize my findings, there are still experienced ice bath practitioners who are unaware of the sex health benefits of a regular cold plunge therapy practice. That's why I posted my lecture to a group of Wim Hof Instructors organized by Miles Lukas as a new episode of my Uncommon Living podcast.
Mitochondria: The Sex Hormone Factory
Sex hormone synthesis begins inside the mitochondria, where cholesterol is converted into pregnenolone. Damaged mitochondria impair this process.
Because old exposure stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and improves mitochondrial function, it provides a boost to the production of all sex hormones, including testosterone, estradiol, and other forms of estrogen.
For men, light exercise after cold signals testosterone production in the testicles, where the vast majority of male testosterone is manufactured. However, in women, testosterone is synthesized in the adrenal glands, skin, fat, in addition to the ovaries. Because cold is the best way to activate the adrenals, skin, and fat cells, women get an immediate testosterone boost from cold stimulation even without exercising.
Women’s Health and Pregnancy
Much of the skepticism about women and cold therapy comes from misinterpretation. Although Sims has been quoted out of context as saying ice baths are “bad for women,” she also describes studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia that show cold plunge therapy helps resolve endometriosis. It can even fix polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Cold plunge therapy can even help women who suffer from PCOS conceive a new baby. In Cold Plunge During Pregnancy I explained that cold reduces inflammation, improves sleep, support insulin sensitivity, and reduces the risk of complications such as gestational diabetes.
Contrast Therapy: Wet Cold + Dry Sauna
Heat does not support fertility in men or women, and should be avoided by those seeking to conceive a child. Nonetheless, what most people don't know is that in Finland, the word sauna always means both heat and cold. That is, nobody in Finland just does heat therapy without also doing cold. The research studies are explicit about this in their description of methods, but again the American social media overlooks the necessity of cold exposure when citing these famous Finnish studies.
To practice contrast therapy properly, use wet cold (ice bath, cold plunge) followed by dry heat (sauna). Avoid hot tubs when doing thermal contrast therapy, since wet heat prevents sweating and forces vasoconstriction rather than dilation. I wrote about this in Are You Getting Enough Vasoconstriction? in which I explained a phenomenon called hidromeiosis, in which the body will stop sweating when the skin is already saturated with water.
Uncommon Questions?
Probably the best part of my lecture was the Q&A with the Wim Hof Instructors at the end. Because they're more knowledgeable than most of my audience, they challenged some of my assertions and asked my to clarify some of my recommendations that might contradict their own teachings. Talking thru what at first looked like differences between us instead revealed commonalities.
Miles Lukas told me that his group was still talking about the experience for days afterwards, and that he sent my presentation to the global WHM Instructor group. They enjoyed it so much, they want me to present at an international meeting of Wim Hof certified instructors in January.
What should I tell them?
About the Author
Thomas P Seager, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University. Seager co-founded the Morozko Forge ice bath company and is an expert in the use of ice baths for building metabolic and psychological resilience.
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