A group of people braced against the wind on a sandy beach on the Homer spit, which juts out into the Kachemak Bay, on a June evening at high tide.
Kammi Matson, who founded the group, gathered everyone to psych themselves up for the cold. They held hands and joined in a primal yell on the shore. Then, still holding hands, they waded into the waves, which were 46 degrees.
Matson has been running the weekly event for about three years.
“I'm obsessed with cold plunging,” she said.
Lately there are about 20 regulars, some of whom stick to the warmer months.
Matson said the first couple minutes of a plunge are the hardest, like an icy shock. But then she said plungers settle into the cold. On this dip, they stayed in for a few minutes total.
“Everyone who's in the water is kind of all in the same place, emotionally, which is a very calm, peaceful, centered place of gratitude and joy,” Matson said.
She started plunging three years ago and found it fun and exhilarating and she said it’s helped her mental health.
“I used to feel like this anxiety, or like the tensions of my week were building, and then I would be looking forward to cold plunging, because it felt like it was just like a big reset button and I knew I would always feel good after I had done it,” Matson said.
After incorporating a regular cold dip practice, she said she feels less anxious in her day-to-day life.
Cold plunging is popular across the United States, with many using the practice to achieve a wide array of health benefits, from sports recovery to stress reduction. But research doesn’t clearly demonstrate that cold water immersion is helpful for athletes. Some studies do show the practice helps people feel good mentally and may decrease stress hormones. But experts say there’s not enough research yet to be certain and the practice comes with significant risks.
Dr. Blaine Norton, an emergency department physician at Alaska Regional Hospital, said he thinks some people are plunging in water that’s too cold, especially in wintertime in Alaska.
“When you do go into really cold water, you can lower your core body temperature, you can develop hypothermia, which can lead to confusion,” Norton said.
He suggests cold plungers stay in water with a range of about 40 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures that have been studied in sports medicine. He also said anyone with heart or circulation problems should talk to a health care provider before jumping into cold water, and he urged people not to cold dip in the wild alone in case they become hypothermic.
“When you jump into water, you have a kind of a gasp response, particularly if it's cold,” Norton said. “And you can imagine, if you have a rapid gasp of air and you're underwater, that's not going to be a good thing. So that actually leads to a lot of drownings.”
He said it's important to make a plan in case something goes wrong and to set up a way to warm up quickly after getting out.
Jennifer Gibson, a therapist and one of the cold plunge regulars, said she plunges because it’s empowering and strengthens her community. She said she knows she has to be careful in cold water; after one of her plunges she said it took her hours to warm up.
“Note to self: ‘Listen to my body,’” Gibson said. “‘You don't need to push, you don't need to try and do more. Like it's okay to just get out when it feels right to get out.’”
Gibson said as long as she listens to her body, she experiences many benefits from cold plunging. She said it’s easy to look at cold water and feel like you can’t go in.
“It teaches you that you are strong, that you can do a lot of things, and it really, over and over again, it just keeps pushing that message home,” Gibson said.
Gibson said it’s really valuable to experience pushing through discomfort, and to learn that we can tolerate things we’re afraid of and be ok, or even great.
Back in Kachemak Bay, after a few minutes of splashing, talking and huddling, the cold plungers walked out of the water.
After about eight minutes, Matson was one of the last to come to shore. She dried off and wrapped herself in a towel.
“I always feel a sense of peace as well as exhilaration,” Matson said. “I also feel invincible.”
Then, she stepped away from the group and gazed out at the water, hummed to herself and took a few deep breaths.
