All About You FRIDAY – Fire and Ice

I didn’t have any plans on Mother’s Day, so I decided to take the plunge, literally. Don’t let the image of this unassuming building fool you. Housed inside the brick walls of the Schvitz Detroit, is an adventure you should experience. Built in 1826, the original bath house underwent partial renovation in 2020 and houses a cold plunge pool, a sauna and steam room. In Yiddish, Schvitz means sweat and the name is accurate.

We opened the unmarked side door, walked up a narrow set of steps to another door and rang the bell. I only knew we were in the right place by the welcome mat inside the door. Our entrance fee got us a towel and a cloth bath mat and after a quick change in the locker room, we headed down another short flight of stairs to begin our adventure.

This is the cold plunge pool. 58˚F. I didn’t plunge. I gingerly and painstakingly walked step by step into the pool until the water was at waist level and then I slowly immersed my body up to my neck. “You’re supposed to stay in here for 3 minutes,” a woman said. My body was aching and tingling and then parts were going numb. I just kept thinking, this must be really good for me. I made it out of there and went into this room. The hot, hot dry sauna. I concentrated on my breathing as the sweat dripped off of me. 15 minutes.

I wanted to try the steam room, too, but figured I should jump back into the cold plunge pool. So I did. 3 painstaking minutes but easier than the first time. Then I headed into the steam room.

I repeated this cold/hot contrast: 3 minutes in the pool; 10-15 in the sauna; 3 minutes in the pool; 10-15 in the steam room for three cycles. Why three cycles? Because I like odd numbers and once around didn’t feel like I got my money’s worth.

At the end of it, I felt both refreshed and relaxed. I would have stayed to enjoy the newly renovated lounge and the cafe that serves delicious meals from various food trucks in the city, but I just felt like I wanted to get home and chill out.

I never do that. But it felt oh, so sweet.

Why does this matter?

Contrast baths have been used for a long time with reported benefits of:

Increasing intramuscular oxygenated blood
Speeding recovery time after exercise
Boosting your metabolism
Activating temperature shock proteins that may help prevent age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease.

Here’s a great article about the benefit of microstressing the body with hot/cold therapy. Are you intrigued? You should be. And then you should go treat yourself and support a local business. You’ll have a great story to tell.

It’s been a long week. Congratulations on making it to Friday. Don’t forget to celebrate.

Until next time…