Are Cold Plunges & HIIT Training Hurting Your Healing?
Episode 57: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
View transcript on Buzzsprout
It’s easy to think we’re doing all the right things when we commit to wellness trends like HIIT workouts, hot yoga, and cold plunges. But if your nervous system is already operating in overdrive, these high-intensity habits might be feeding the chaos rather than helping you heal. This episode explores how healing often requires unfamiliar stillness rather than more stimulation—and how to discern what your system truly needs.
What We Cover in This Episode
- Why intense habits can feel safer than calm
- Amanda’s personal story of resisting stillness
- How healing happens in unfamiliar safety
- Why research-backed habits aren’t one-size-fits-all
- A guide to strategic healing through personal experimentation
The Familiarity of Chaos
When your nervous system has spent years surviving chaos, stillness and calm can feel unsafe—not because they’re harmful, but because they’re unfamiliar. Amanda shares how, in her twenties, she clung to high-intensity workouts like CrossFit and avoided slower practices like yoga, even though her system was desperate for regulation. Like many, she mistook discomfort for ineffectiveness, not realizing that true healing often feels awkward at first.
Understanding Nervous System Defaults
Familiarity equals predictability, and predictability equals safety—even if what you’re familiar with is stress, overdrive, or shutdown. Your nervous system prioritizes what it knows it can survive. That’s why many people unconsciously choose healing modalities that match their internal chaos.
HIIT, ice baths, and intense breathwork can be powerful tools, but they’re not inherently healing for every body at every time. This episode reminds us that what works for someone else—or what research suggests should work—might actually be dysregulating for you right now.
Context Matters: Research vs. Personalization
Amanda breaks down why even brilliant science communicators (like Dr. Andrew Huberman) can unintentionally promote overly generalized protocols. Yes, exercise is often more effective than meds or talk therapy for reducing anxiety and depression. But if high-intensity workouts spike your anxiety or leave you feeling worse, that’s useful data. What’s most important is learning how to interpret your own body’s response.
The Two Keys to Strategic Healing
- A Functional Understanding of Your Nervous System: Know how your system defaults—is it stuck in fight-or-flight? Is it collapsed in shutdown? From there, you can begin choosing tools that balance you out.
- Being in Conversation With Your Body: Healing isn’t a rigid plan—it’s an ongoing experiment. Pay attention. Use trial and error. If cold plunges leave you overstimulated, don’t force it. If slowing down feels unbearable, ask whether that’s a sign it’s exactly what your system needs to build tolerance for.
From Self-Sabotage to Strategic Healing
We often call it self-sabotage when we repeatedly choose habits that hurt us. But Amanda reframes it: our systems choose what’s familiar. Healing happens when we expand our tolerance for unfamiliar safety. That might mean replacing hot yoga with a restorative class. It might mean swapping your high-volume workout for a quiet walk without multitasking.
Inside the Regulated Living Membership, members explore exactly this: how to bring regulation into daily life through tangible, personalized practices. From decluttering your home to building better sleep hygiene, Rise helps you implement lifestyle shifts that reduce nervous system load—without overwhelm.
Three Tangible Takeaways
- Familiar doesn’t always mean helpful. Your nervous system might crave chaos, but healing often requires learning to feel safe in stillness.
- Use research as a guide, not a gospel. Even well-supported practices like HIIT and cold plunges might not be right for your system right now.
- Strategic healing requires personalization. The most effective tools are the ones that both support your physiology and meet you where you are.
Looking for more personalized support?
- Book a FREE discovery call for RESTORE, our 1:1 anxiety & depression coaching program (HSA/FSA eligible & includes comprehensive bloodwork)
- Join me inside the Regulated Living Membership, a mental health membership and nervous system healing space (sliding scale pricing available)
- Join my Release Class – Monthly guided nervous system regulation class
- Order my book, Healing Through the Vagus Nerve today!
- Download free resources here
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
