A kind of cold water treatment called an ice bath or cold water immersion is submerging your body in ice water for five to fifteen minutes. There are several health benefits of ice baths, which involve briefly subjecting your body to very low temperatures.
Ice baths have been utilized for ages by people due to their medicinal effects. Ice baths may help lessen pain, soothe aching muscles, and lift your spirits. However, there isn’t much study being done right now. Before you take the bold step, make sure to read these things.
Why You Should Take Ice Baths
1. Stress Relief
After five minutes in 68-degree cold water, participants in research published in Biology that looked into the health benefits of ice baths reported feeling less anxious and upset and more energetic, alert, focused, proud, and inspired.
There’s reason to suspect that ice baths might have a similar impact since cold stimulation has also been discovered to stimulate the vagus nerve, which helps regulate the nervous system during stressful periods.
Over time, regular ice baths may help you become more resilient to stress. By voluntarily submerging oneself in cold water—which is quite painful for most people—you are training your nervous system to de-stress in a regulated but elevated stress setting.
2. Relieves Pain
Applying ice to an injury is known to constrict blood vessels, which lessens pain, swelling, and inflammation. Furthermore, studies reveal that the application of cold water to your skin causes electrical impulses to be sent to your brain, which in turn reduces pain.
Similar to using ice, taking an ice bath may constrict blood vessels. They thus probably have a comparable impact on pain. The increased blood flow to your muscles and tissues after an ice bath may help lessen pain and inflammation.
3. Boost Metabolism
The process of thermogenesis, which produces energy that turns into warmth after being exposed to cold, is triggered by brown fat tissue. Since the body is working extra hard to control its temperature, a result of this process may be an increased metabolism; however, additional study is necessary.
In fact, research on mice discovered that being in the ice bath benefits doubled their metabolic rate. Because we tend to lose brown fat as we age, this specific ice bath benefit is really beneficial for older folks.
4. Reduces Muscle Soreness
An hour after exercise, submerging oneself in cold water aided increased muscle recovery for up to 24 hours and minimized muscular soreness, according to an analysis of 32 randomized controlled studies. Heat treatment, however, had comparable outcomes.
According to a different study, cold water treatment may lessen post-workout muscular discomfort. The trials did, however, use various cold water treatment techniques, temps, and durations. Additionally, contradictory studies suggest that soaking in cold water after working out will lower muscle mass and strength.
5. Enhances Mood and Alertness
Some studies suggest that the health benefits of ice baths might lift your spirits. According to research, those who soaked for 20 minutes in 55°C saltwater reported far higher levels of self-esteem as well as less stress and rage. Results were comparable for those who bathed for eighteen minutes.
According to another study, soaking in cold water for five minutes at 68 degrees enhanced alertness, reduced anxiety, and eased tension. However, less than 50 healthy people were involved in both modest trials.
6. Boost Heart Health
In comparison to those who were not cold-adapted, those who were cold-adapted had superior indicators for cardiovascular health and a greater capacity to withstand oxidative stress, according to research that examined the relationship between cold adaptation and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
It’s crucial to remember that contradictory research suggests that taking an ice bath might raise your risk of cardiovascular disease since it increases the total burden your heart must do. Therefore, it’s advisable to consult your healthcare physician before starting an ice bath regimen.
7. Takes Care of Skin
According to research, the cold may soothe irritated, itchy skin by narrowing the skin’s tiny arteries and veins. A smaller-scale illustration of this would be the application of ice rollers.
Ice rollers work by narrowing superficial blood vessels and promoting lymphatic drainage, which helps to lessen edema and puffiness. They may lessen the appearance of background redness and soothe sensitive skin. Additionally, ice rollers may ease sensitivity or irritation related to skin disorders like sunburn or rosacea.
8. Reduce Inflammation
Cold water immersion or ice bath benefits are similar to applying ice to an injured area but on a bigger scale. It is thus not surprising that research has shown it to have anti-inflammatory properties, lowering pain and swelling in the body.
9. Better Sleep
Studies have shown that cryotherapy, often known as cold treatment, is beneficial for sleep and circadian rhythm. Given that ice baths are a kind of cryotherapy, they could improve sleep. Their well-known advantages for mental health could also contribute to improved sleep.
Watch Out For These Side Effects
There are several health benefits of ice baths, but also several hazards associated with submerging your body in an ice bath. Your health, the length of time you spend in the water, and the temperature all affect how your body responds to an ice bath. The following are possible adverse consequences of an ice bath:
Cold panniculitis: When the skin’s fatty tissue layer is damaged by excessive cold, a painful and itchy rash may appear. Deep lumps, hard bumps, or scaly areas might all be signs of cold panniculitis.
Cold shock response: Your body might experience a shock when submerged suddenly in water that is less than 60 degrees, resulting in symptoms such as sharply elevated blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration. If you’re in deep water, this might make drowning more likely for you. The heart may also be strained by the impact.
Low body temperature (hypothermia): Ice baths have the potential to dangerously lower your body temperature by making you feel excessively chilly. Organ failure may ultimately result from this.
Ice burn: Coming into direct contact with ice may scorch your skin, resulting in painful blisters and skin that becomes red, white, or gray. Frostbite is a condition in which the skin and underlying tissues freeze, resulting in tissue death and skin damage.
Nerve damage: Extended exposure to cold may induce lasting neuropathy (nerve damage) by reducing blood flow to a point where tissue is killed. Pain, numbness, and loss of muscular strength may result from nerve injury.
Before having an ice bath, particularly if you have a health concern, consult your healthcare professional.
FAQ
Q: I have seen people digging up water and taking dips in a frozen lake at Oymyakon. How can they do it?
A: The temperature of Oymyakon is usually sub-zero, but the water temperature under a frozen lake is 4 degrees Celsius. Even you can take a dip.
Q: How much time is it safe to spend in an ice bath?
A: Prolonged exposure to very high or low temperatures, or freezing cold water, may be harmful to the body. It is not advised to remain in an ice bath for more than fifteen minutes if you attempt cold plunging.
Q: At what temperature is an ice bath safe to use?
A: The ideal water temperature for an ice bath is between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius, or 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit. When utilizing a 3:1 water-to-ice ratio, this normally takes ten minutes to accomplish; if there is simply ice in the tub, it happens right away.
