Primal Inputs - the Philosophy Behind Primal Cold

In a few minutes you'll know why so many people feel Stuck in Neutral.

These days it seems like everyone is taking a cold shower. For many high-performers, cold exposure has become part of the daily routine. Cold's benefits are splashed across the interwebs along side other hyped-up life-hacks.

Fads like this tend to flash into the popular culture as shiny new objects, but they eventually become forgotten bits of trivia.

Let's hope that's not the fate of cold therapy.

Quite the opposite of the newest life-hack, cold exposure is actually prehistoric. That's not to say that cavemen were taking ice baths for high-performance. Our ancestors didn't have a choice when it came to cold exposure. It was an unavoidable part of their world.

​Paleolithic man lived in a challenging natural environment that we've managed to insulate ourselves from today.

Humans living thousands of years ago didn't have central heating and a Netflix account.

Our modern lifestyle, with all its comforts & conveniences, is a radical departure from what our bodies are biologically adapted for.

Your body responds to inputs from its environment, and unfortunately, modern living shelters us from nature's elements.  In today's world, your body rarely gets these 'Primal Inputs' from the environment.

Primal Inputs are elements of nature that we avoid today for the sake of comfort. Back in Paleolithic times, these natural pressures were unavoidable.

Examples of Primal Inputs:

- The sun on your skin (because cavemen didn't have indoor desk jobs)

- Being cold in the winter (because there was no furnace)

- Being hot in the summer (because there was no air conditioning)

- Bathing in a frigid stream (because to get hot water thousands of years ago, you had to build a fire & boil water, or find hot springs)

- Going to sleep when the sun set (because there were no lightbulbs)

Check this out!

Before electric lights, the primal sleep pattern was to go to bed about 2 hours after sunset, sleep 3-4 hours, be awake in the night for 1-2 hours (sometimes socializing & having tea), and then sleep another 4-5 hours.

Our radically changed modern sleep pattern shows that the body and mind's functions drift when we ignore Primal Inputs.

Artificial lights let us ignore the setting sun's invitation to sleep. We stay up later and our sleep changes from two shorter sessions to one long session.

It's amazing how quickly humans forgot about a 100,000 year old habit: 

"By the 1920s the idea of a first and second sleep had receded entirely from our social consciousness."*

We have historical amnesia.  As a species, we've completely forgotten how we used to act, how we used to feel, and what our capacities / capabilities were before the birth of modern civilization.  

In cold water, we shiver and our breathing seizes up.

​We don't realize that our ancestors were probably at ease in the cold. It's a forgotten capacity that holds benefits for both body and mind. That's why people on the cutting edge of performance today, are reclaiming the cold for themselves.     

Science shows that cold stress offers a beneficial 'boost' to your brain (1) and immune system(2). The cold lowers stress hormones(3), decreases inflammation(4), and aids the body's anti-oxidant production(5).    

Science will no doubt uncover many more ways that cold benefits you.

​Forget the science for a minute and let's put this in practical terms:

​People who regularly use cold therapy report feeling better physically and mentally. They're resilient and have more vitality. 

This is what people have been waiting for - an improvement that you can actually feel! Cold therapy isn't like taking pill or a supplement and 'hoping' that it works. 

The Question: 

Why does the cold boost so many bodily processes?  

 

The Answer: 

The cold isn't boosting your body's function to some abnormal level. The cold is restoring your body's function to the levels our ancestors needed to survive in challenging environments.  

A core belief of Primal Cold is that your body doesn't prepare you for challenges you don't have.   Your hormones, immune system, and all the rest have no reason to perform optimally if you're stuck in a perfectly comfortable office all day.   

Makes sense, right? 

On the other hand, you'll function more optimally if you reclaim primal inputs like cold stress.  

Look at it this way… 
Is your body going to work harder to keep you alive if: 

1) it thinks you have a desk job...​

or

2) it thinks you're out in the cold hunting caribou as if your life depends on it? 

That's why we believe that the cold doesn't deliver an abnormal boost so much as it helps restore your body's optimal function.  

One drawback of our modern comforts is that our bodies rarely get environmental stress, like the cold.  We insulate ourselves from it with stylish puffy coats.  

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Why is Primal Cold obsessed with helping you restore this piece of your wild ancestry?  

We believe the cold helps bring the body back to primal equilibrium, which means more resilience and vitality, mentally and physically.  

Look around you! There's never been a time in history where humans have had such:
- abundance
- safety
- and access to knowledge & tools.  

So why do so many of us coast through life on auto pilot?!

Lots of people feel 'off' but they can't put their finger on exactly why.  One reason is because we unknowingly suffer the side-effects of too much comfort.  If your body isn't challenged, you'll end up feeling stuck in neutral. 

That's not to say that the cold will cure all of your problems.  But, you can't get ahead of the herd, until you're different from the herd.  Cold Gear will help you get ahead.     ​​

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* BBC News - The Myth of the eight-hour sleep