Deliberate cold exposure can be beneficial for the overall fertility process in females by indirectly reducing cortisol levels at times other than early morning.

“Likewise, with females, deliberate cold exposure can be good for the overall fertility process, not because cold is good for the ovary or being cold is good for the ovary or for luteinizing hormone or for follicle-stimulating hormone or anything else like that, but rather that using deliberate cold exposure as a way to restrict stress in a deliberate way to a particular time of day increases the release of cortisol, then, and indirectly reduces the amount of cortisol that's released at other times along the 24-hour cycle.”

“Now, there are fewer data to look to, unfortunately. But what we do know is that deliberate cold exposure done in the way that I just described-- one to three minutes a day, ideally early in the day, through cold shower or immersion up to the neck-- doesn't have to be an ice bath.”