From the time we are children, we are often told that we need to do something that we do not want to because it is good for us. The most obvious things are taking medicines and eating vegetables. That advice is undoubtedly correct. But that may subtly breed the erroneous idea that the fact that something is distasteful to eat or do may in iitself be an indicator that it is good for us. Often these things involve actions that people we know tell us about or that we read about famous and successful people doing.
Jonny Thomson spoke with neuroscientist Rachel Barr about this ‘cold plunge fallacy’ that has led to many fads that may be merely making life unpleasant for us without any benefits, or where the benefits may be outweighed by the negatives of the experience, or that may even be harmful.
This is how Barr put it:
“The things that you do for your mental health should be aligned with what your brain needs and your natural rhythms. And they should, in most cases, feel quite good.
There’s something I’ve noticed, and I’ve been calling it the cold-plunge fallacy. I know that there are some people who enjoy cold baths and that kind of stuff, and so great, go ahead and enjoy it. But for the rest of us mere mortals, the idea of stepping into an ice bath for 10 minutes a day is awful. And the amount of self-persuasion that goes into convincing yourself to do something like that might be a problem. Yes, cold plunging is evidence-based, but it might be such a small yield that you get out of it, and you hate it.
I have to wonder if that constant self-persuasion and hatred of the task doesn’t then outweigh the small, tiny benefit that you’d get from it.”
The point Barr is making is not that “cold plunging is bad.” In fact, she recognizes that it’s likely beneficial for some people. But others will hate the prospect so much that it outweighs the benefits. We shouldn’t ignore the fact that, for some people, the anxious and resentful preparation for a cold plunge is more awful than for others.
The article goes on to describe some of the things that people might do out of a belief that it is good for them that may leave them feeling bad. Things like the ‘The 5:00am Club’, involving getting up much earlier than one needs to or likes to because some successful people report doing it. Or the ‘Digital detox weekends’ where one decides to cut oneself off completely from one’s phone and computer in order to to break free of the addiction to social media. Or the ’52-books-a-year challenge’ where one feels that one is not reading enough books and thus sets a goal of reading a specific number of books in a given period. The article looks at the possible negative knock-on effects that such extreme measures could result in that end up making you, and even those around you, more miserable.
So what is the lesson?
Like plunging into a cold pond, your decisions ripple across time, eventually bouncing off other areas of your life in ways that aren’t always easy to predict. So you might do well to remember that some supposedly beneficial habits may never work for you.
I sort of have been unconsciously following that advice, refusing to do things that others recommend that they say works for them, if the inconveniences seem too much for me. As a trivial example, I play the card game bridge, regularly partnering with a friend who is more assiduous at improving his game than I am, who takes classes and watches videos of experts. He recently tried to persuade me to join him in following a bridge expert who gives a 30-minute lesson online at 7:45 am each morning. The problem is that I enjoy the retirement luxury of not getting up to an alarm and lazing around in bed until I feel ready to get up, which works out to about 8:00 am. So I have rebuffed my friend’s attempts, feeling that I can learn whatever I need to at more convenient times.
And I feel really good about my decision when I wake up past the time when the class has begun, that more than compensates me for feeling that my game could improve faster if I was willing to wake up earlier.
The notion of cold-plunges is still big around here (Southwest Michigan), so the title of your post caught my eye.
It’s quite likely that the benefits of cold plunging are due to the amount of work that goes into convincing yourself to do it, although there have been some studies. This summary of several
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9518606/
was one of the last ones I discussed with some biostatistics classes before I retired. The conclusion is that there may be some benefits to the practice but better studies are needed.
But more to your final comment, and I agree. I’ve only been retired for a few years, and my wife just retired, but we’re both at the “we spent enough time getting up extra early every day” stage of our lives. We’ve been getting up early to exercise: 2 hours of outside pickleball, a 3 mile run for me, 8 miles for her followed by a 20-30 mile bike ride for her, and the rest of the day is for normal stuff. Suggestions from friends or family that “you really need to start doing ….” are listened to and, at least so far, uniformly ignored.
There are a lot of things in life that have questionable benefits when compared to the efforts needed to do them, or that might work great for some but not for others. I remember the uproar a few years back when the topic was vegetarianism. I did it for a decade to be healthier! and save the planet! and lower your food bill!
I worked with a nutritionist based out of the local hospital…and what I learned is that it didn’t work for me. In fact, it doesn’t work for a lot of people. The BBC also cites studies about the genetic component that not everyone can be vegetarian. I just made myself very sick trying to conform for something that genetically I was never supposed to be. At least one regular got out a soapbox and informed me I simply was “doing it wrong” and simply needed to follow their superior diet.
Real example: Christian nuts flog mentally sick children to ‘drive out the demons’ that make them mentally sick.
@ birgerjohansson, 3: I can’t imagine that anyone would find benefit from flogging to improve mental health, whereas in Mano’s example of a cold plunge, there are people who say they find it to be exhilarating and their bodies show no sign of harm from it. Other people may suffer a heart attackfrom it, or just find it to be so unpleasant that they spend more time in an unhappy state dreading it than any potential advantages from doing it.
TL:dr: Not everything is perfect for everybody.
In my house I have far more books by volume (pun not intended) than any other category of possessions, and my unread pile is alarmingly large (partly because I work in a bookstore and get a 50% employee discount 😁), but I think setting a goal of reading 52 books in a year is really dumb. In my experience, most books that are worth the reading take more than a week to read if you work full time. Either they contain ideas that need to pondered, or they are just too fun to be devoured in a few sittings!
I think a much better plan is to look at your daily schedule, and try to find an hour for reading, even on work days. If you also choose to spend six hours reading on your days off, that should be counted as leisure time, with no guilt if you decide to do something else with that time.
And you can’t fight the tears that ain’t comin’
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you’re alive
-*Iris* Goo Goo Dolls
I naturally like to go to bed early and get up early (about 5am) but I am not about to make myself get up at 3 unless there is a really good reason.
Hiking up and down mountains has undoubted health benefits, both physical and psychological, and I am one of the large majority of people in my state (Washington) who love the mountains. I am not sure if those who cannot cotton to the idea of hiking would or would not reduce the proven physical benefits of being on the mountains and in the forests. I once had someone ask ‘what is the big deal about walking along some stupid path’? Not sure how to answer a question like that.