Inside Pause Studio, there is one unexpected sign of summer — smaller puddles.
During cooler months, guests sometimes step into the 48-degree cold plunge and climb out before completing the full cycle, sending water over the sides of the tub. As temperatures climb past 110 degrees, more people are staying submerged.
“The puddles around the cold plunge are a lot smaller than they have been in this heat,” says Breanna Berryhill, general manager of Pause Studio Las Vegas. “People are definitely getting in there and submerging for their full cycles.”
Cold plunging involves voluntarily lowering your body into very cold water and remaining there while every instinct tells you to get out. The first few seconds can feel particularly intense.
At Pause, the plunge is paired with an infrared sauna inside one of four private contrast-therapy rooms. Guests can spend up to nine minutes in the sauna, as long as three minutes in the 48-degree water and then three minutes resting before repeating the cycle during a 30- or 60-minute session.
“While you’re sitting in the cold plunge, really stare at that sauna and get ready for it,” Berryhill says. “It’s mental, but physically you just feel incredible.”
Cold-water immersion has become a social media spectacle, an athletic recovery ritual and, increasingly, a mainstream wellness practice. Studies suggest cold-water immersion may temporarily reduce muscle soreness and perceived fatigue after strenuous activity as well as inflammation.
At Pause, the reasons for plunging are less complicated. Guests arrive after golfing, hiking, exercising, working a long shift or spending hours walking the Strip.
“You don’t have to be an athlete to benefit from cold therapy,” Berryhill says. “Whether you’ve been hiking, golfing, walking the Strip or just navigating this Vegas heat, the cold plunge therapy is an important part of overall wellness.”
The goal is not to prove who can endure the coldest water or remain submerged the longest. Beginners can start gradually, pay attention to how their bodies respond, and step out when necessary.
And while 48-degree water may sound irresistible during an extreme heat warning, a plunge is not a treatment for heat illness or a substitute for hydration, shade, and medical care when needed. It is a deliberate and highly desirable encounter with the cold that we just can’t get anywhere else right now.
Las Vegas has spent generations teaching people how to embrace extremes. When the temperature outside reaches 115 degrees, choosing to sit in 48-degree water may be one of the city’s more logical propositions.
