Dr. Jonathan Leary is making a bold argument here, and I think he's right. The claim isn't really about contrast therapy. It's about loneliness. He's saying that the way we socialize in modern life — mostly over alcohol, mostly passively, mostly in environments that dull rather than sharpen us — is quietly killing people. And that we need a different architecture for human connection.
Remedy Place is his answer. Not a gym. Not a spa. A place where you go to do hard, physiologically meaningful things together. Where the ice bath is the social event.
The loneliness data is brutal. Studies consistently show that chronic social isolation elevates cortisol, suppresses immune function, accelerates cognitive decline, and increases all-cause mortality by somewhere between 25 and 30 percent. That's comparable to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day. Dr. Leary's line — "if you wanted to cut somebody's life expectancy in half at any age, put them in isolation" — isn't hyperbole. It's close to what the epidemiology actually shows.
The Blue Zones research says the same thing from a different angle. In every population that consistently produces centenarians — Sardinia, Okinawa, Loma Linda — strong social ties and a sense of shared purpose show up as reliably as diet and movement. Community isn't a nice-to-have. It's a biological necessity.
Here's what I haven't seen discussed enough: the neurochemistry of shared thermal stress. When you sit in a sauna or step into cold water with another person, you're both releasing norepinephrine, dopamine, and endorphins simultaneously. You're both in a state of heightened physiological arousal followed by a deep parasympathetic recovery. That's not incidental to the social experience — it's central to it.
Shared adversity creates bonding. We've known this intuitively for centuries. What we're only beginning to understand is the mechanism. The contrast protocol — heat, cold, repeat — puts two people through the same neurochemical arc at the same time. You come out the other side genuinely altered. And you did it together. That's not something alcohol can replicate. Alcohol suppresses. Contrast therapy amplifies.
Don't think of the social element as a marketing angle. Think of it as the whole point. If you're doing your cold plunges alone at home, you're capturing the physiological benefits. But you're missing half the protocol. Find people to do this with. A community, a partner, anyone. The shared experience accelerates the benefit in ways the solo version simply cannot.
Dr. Leary built a business around this insight. You don't need a Remedy Place to apply it. You just need to stop treating wellness as a solitary pursuit.