Sweat, Flow, Create
What happens to your brain on heat, and how our next event will prove it
Here in Brighton, we love a sauna. Like so many other places around the world, they’ve become part of our culture. But here’s something I didn’t know until recently. The reason you feel weirdly clean after a sauna isn’t just those toxins having been released. It’s your brain entering a different state1.
When your body temperature rises, the nervous system shifts out of sympathetic mode (fight, flight, fix, scroll, overthink) and into parasympathetic. Cortisol drops, and serotonin and dopamine rise2. The brain starts producing theta and alpha waves3 – the same frequencies linked to deep creative states, meditation, and the moment just before sleep when you solve something you’ve been stuck on for weeks.
Then there’s what happens after. When you cool down, dopamine spikes. In one study, cold water immersion raised dopamine by 250% and norepinephrine by 530%4. Both stayed elevated for hours. Norepinephrine is the neurotransmitter most associated with focus and attention (or for us creatives, the ability to sit and make something).
When practiced safely, you come out of a cold plunge alert but not anxious. Energised, but not wired. By increasing blood flow to the prefrontal cortex (the brain's hub for executive functions like problem-solving, decision-making and creativity) cold water gives you the kind of clarity that so many of us try to manufacture with caffeine and routine.5
There’s a Japanese word for the state achieved through alternating heat and cold: totonou6. Researchers have only recently started studying the neural basis of it, but people have been chasing it for centuries.
So when’s the best time to do creative work? Not in the sauna, (you’ll be pleased to know) or in cold water (that would be weird). After.
The heat narrows your attention, and the cold triggers the spike. And then there’s a window, roughly 30-60 minutes, where dopamine and norepinephrine are elevated, cortisol is still low, and your brain is in exactly the state it needs to be in to sit with something and make it.
Sweat, Flow, Create
Curious? Come along to our next event at Saltdean Lido to explore the connection between heat and creativity for yourself.
First, we’ll sauna. Then we’ll head to the Reading Rooms cafe for a talk from our sauna master, Vicky, and a creative coworking session. This isn’t just logistics; it’s the right order.
We’re not selling wellness at Sweat, Flow, Create. We’re not promising you’ll write your best ever sentence in a sauna. But we do think there’s something in deliberately engineering the conditions for creative thought. And heat, cold water, and two hours with no phone and a group of people who are creative on the side, is a decent place to start.
The event is on 16th July at Saltdean Lido. Sauna first, then a talk, then creative coworking by the sea. Bring something you want to think about, start, or make progress on.
Tickets are limited – grab yours here.
https://saunacloud.com/25-minute-brain-hack-infrared-sauna/
https://www.saunahouse.com/blogs/wellness-guide/how-sauna-and-cold-plunge-can-unlock-creativity
https://www.greatbayspas.com/blog/the-science-of-relaxation-how-hot-tubs-and-saunas-affect-your-brain/
https://coldture.com/blogs/news/cold-water-immersion-dopamine-brain-chemistry
https://discovermonk.com/blogs/blog/neuroplasticity-and-leadership-how-cold-water-therapy-makes-better-leaders
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10681252/