Why Your Body Keeps Blood Sugar High—And How Cold Can Fix It

Last year, cold plunging became huge in Montana. Ice baths, frozen lakes—you name it.

But what’s really interesting isn’t just the trend itself—it’s what I’m seeing in the lab results of the men who do it consistently.

As a primary care doctor, I review a dozen or more lab panels every week. And I started noticing a pattern with the guys who cold plunge regularly:

✅ Low inflammation markers

✅ Low fasting glucose

✅ High testosterone

This isn’t a coincidence. The same mechanism that makes cold exposure so powerful also explains why your body keeps blood sugar high in the first place.

Take my client Jake, for example. He struggled with high fasting blood sugar and an energy roller coaster for years. But after incorporating cold plunges 4x per week in the morning, his fasting glucose levels dropped below 100 for the first time in years, his inflammation markers plummeted, and he swears he’s stronger during post-plunge workouts.

This isn’t just about cold water—it’s about how the body regulates energy.

Most people with type 2 diabetes think high blood sugar is just a malfunction, but it’s actually an adaptive response to deeper metabolic dysfunction.

The body isn’t broken—it’s trying to protect itself.

Let me break it down.

1. Insulin Resistance: A Protective Mechanism

Cells, especially in muscle and liver, become insulin resistant when they’re overloaded with energy. This isn’t a mistake—it’s a defense mechanism. When cells are overloaded, forcing in more glucose would trigger oxidative stress and damage. The result? Chronic inflammation.

So the body leaves sugar in the bloodstream instead of cramming it into overwhelmed cells.

Cold exposure helps reduce insulin resistance by increasing glucose uptake in muscles and activating brown fat.

2. The Liver’s Overproduction of Glucose

The liver, meant to regulate blood sugar, does the opposite in diabetes—it keeps pumping out glucose, even when levels are already high.

Why? Because insulin resistance tricks the body into thinking it’s low on energy, triggering the liver to produce more sugar as a survival response.

3. Muscle and Fat: The Energy Crisis

Muscle is the biggest consumer of glucose, but in insulin resistance, it stops pulling in sugar efficiently. Fat cells, when overfilled, release excess fatty acids, which further worsen insulin resistance.

The result? Blood sugar rises because no one is “taking out the trash.”

4. Inflammation and Stress Keep Blood Sugar High

Chronic inflammation and stress hormones (like cortisol) disrupt insulin signaling, making it harder for your body to regulate blood sugar. In fact, inflammation itself can keep blood sugar elevated—because glucose is fuel for immune responses and tissue repair.

So, what helps lower inflammation fast? Cold water.

5. Brown Fat: The Missing Link

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) burns glucose and fat for heat, helping clear excess sugar. But many people with type 2 diabetes have low BAT activity, leaving this pathway underutilized.

What interests me is that BAT doesn’t just keep you warm—it actively burns sugar and fat for fuel. In fact, studies show that people with higher BAT activity have better blood sugar control, because their bodies have another way to ‘clear’ excess glucose.

What Should Happen to Extra Blood Sugar?

In a healthy system, excess glucose is:

✅ Burned for energy by muscle

✅ Stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle

✅ Burned by brown fat for heat

✅ Converted to fat as a last resort

In type 2 diabetes, these pathways fail. Instead of fixing the root cause (insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction), most treatments focus only on lowering blood sugar, ignoring the real issue.

The Fix: Restore Metabolic Flexibility

Lowering blood sugar isn’t the goal—fixing how the body processes energy is.

This means:

✅ Improving muscle glucose uptake

✅ Reducing liver overproduction of sugar

✅ Activating brown fat

✅ Lowering inflammation & stress

Cold plunges can accomplish a lot of this, especially when combined with strength training.

Want to lower blood sugar without meds? Start today. Cold showers, ice baths, or just 30 seconds in a freezing river—it all counts.

The more you activate these systems, the better your metabolism works.