the benefits of
cold water therapy

1. Increases your immunity

The shock of cold water can stimulate the blood cells that fight off infection (leukocytes). One study in the Netherlands found that people who switched to cold showers for 30 to 90 seconds for 90 days called out sick from work, 29% less than people who didn’t switch to cold showers.

2. Combats depression & Anxiety

Limited research is available about the effects of cold water therapy on depression. But the research that exists shows some positive results. In one clinical study, participants who took daily cold showers for several months reported decreased depression symptoms. Additional research suggests that cold water may boost your mood and decrease anxiety.

3. Improves circulation

Cold water strains your body — it goes into “survival mode,” working hard to maintain its core temperature. This stimulates your body to increase blood flow circulation.

“Increasing circulation redistributes blood and delivers freshly oxygenated blood to areas of the body that need to recover,” Dr. Hame says. “It decreases the time it takes your muscles to recover after exercise.” Over time, your circulatory system may become more efficient and move blood through the body more quickly — helpful for anyone with high blood pressure or diabetes.

4. Increases metabolism

Your body expends energy trying to stay warm in a cold shower. The result may be a small amount of calorie burn and increased metabolism. But don’t plan to throw your healthy eating and exercise plan out just yet — research on this benefit is limited.

5. Reduce inflammation and prevent muscle soreness

Cold temps make your blood vessels tighten up (vasoconstrict). When that happens, blood moves to your body’s core and vital organs. The blood naturally becomes oxygen- and nutrient-rich during the process. 

As your body heats up again, the blood vessels expand (vasodilate), bringing that oxygenated blood back to your tissues. As it flows back, it helps to flush out inflammation — a cause of delayed-onset muscle soreness, which can occur a couple of days after exercise.

6. Relieve localized pain

Cold therapy alleviates pain by reducing inflammation. But it also interferes with your brain’s perception of the pain. “If you’ve ever been given cold spray before an injection,” Dr. Hame says, “it works by decreasing how quickly the pain sensation travels through your nerves.” It dulls the nerve transmission sent to your brain.

How to use your shower as cold therapy

There’s no evidence suggesting how often someone should take a cold shower. But Dr. Hame recommends using cold therapy in response to your athletic endeavors — if you work out daily, it’s OK to take a cold shower every day. Her tips for taking cold showers include:

• Keep the water below 60 degrees: In a typical home shower, make the shower as cold as it can go.

• Take it slow: Start with 30 seconds of cold water. Work up to a minute and progress until you take a cold shower for two to three minutes.

• Alternate hot and cold: UCLA Health athletic trainers often recommend a contrast shower post-workout. It involves a hot shower for three minutes, followed by a cold shower for one minute. Repeat the pattern three times and always end with the cold.

Health considerations before taking cold showers

Dr. Hame explains that cold showers are safe and pose no health threat for most healthy people. But consult your primary care physician (PCP) if you have concerns or have been diagnosed with:

• Cold urticaria (hives), a skin reaction to cold exposure

• Heart disease, since a shock of cold may put added stress on the heart

• Raynaud’s syndrome, which causes numbness in your fingers and toes in response to cold temperatures

By now you’ve probably heard of someone you know having cold showers or cold plunges. It’s the new craze and you may be wondering why? I’m here to break it down for you and why it’s become something I do at least 3 times a week.

Surprisingly in where I live in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia the bay water ranges from 12.4°C in Winter to 19.4°C, I always would have thought its much colder than this!

The key is to aim for a temperature that evokes the thought, “This is really cold, and I want to get out, but I can safely stay in.” For some people, that temperature might be 7°C, whereas for others, 20°C.

The key is; the colder the water the shorter amount of time you need
Studies show significant
-40°C (-40°F) - 20 sec
20°C  (68°F) - 6 min

The more often you do deliberate cold exposure, the more comfortable you will be in the cold at all times and can start exposing yourself for longer times or lower temperatures, although research suggests that the actual health benefits mean longer and colder is not necessarily better.

Availability Options:

• Cold Showers - Most Accessible

• Ice Bath / Water Immersion to neck: some gyms have this, you can fill a bath with cold water or purchase a large esky and a bag of ice to do at home

• Cryotherapy - is expensive and harder to access.

I prefer ice baths/water immersion, something about showers and the cold water pounding down on me. I find it harder to relax, but if it is all that is available I find it best to start with a warm shower and slowly lower the temperature until its cold. Then put a timer on, start with 30sec and slowly increase over time. Remember to breathe.

Cold Water Immersion can be the most instantly shocking but the key is to breathe slowly and deeply. If you start to hyperventilate cold water shock is possible, so do not push your body if you’re feeling the effects of “shock”
The key is only to immerse yourself for a short period of time to start 30sec - 1min.

These are some ways I get myself through when I’m beginning or am finding it difficult:

• Breathe in for a count of 5, breathe out for a count of 5, it’s good to look at a timer or relax and close your eyes and do the breathing.

• Listen to a song that goes on for the period of time you want to immerse yourself and sing the lyrics in your head or out loud, when you get more experienced you can start to have a little dance in the water which helps move the cold blood from the surface of your skin deeper in you, creating more inner cold.

• Go with a friend and talk to each other, you’ll find the time goes the quickest if you’re talking.

• Just relax and think of warm weather

As you increase resilience move your limbs while keeping your hands and feet in the water. Staying completely still insulates you from the cold. This will break the thermal layer and you will increase the potency of the cold water without having to make it colder.

“What you are thinking, you are becoming” - Muhammad Ali
So I think I’m warm :)