{"id":6337,"date":"2023-05-23T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=6337"},"modified":"2023-05-12T18:53:22","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T18:53:22","slug":"cold-water-therapy-what-are-the-benefits-and-dangers-of-ice-baths-wild-swimming-and-freezing-showers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/cold-water-therapy-what-are-the-benefits-and-dangers-of-ice-baths-wild-swimming-and-freezing-showers\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold water therapy: what are the benefits and dangers of ice baths, wild swimming and freezing showers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\nHeather Massey<\/a>, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em>; Clare Eglin<\/a>, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em>, and Mike Tipton<\/a>, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

Immersion in cold water<\/a>\nis definitely an activity that divides people \u2013 some love it others hate it. But many now practice it weekly or even daily in the belief that it\u2019s good for their mental and physical health. <\/p>\n\n

Cold water therapy, as it has come to be known, can take the form of outdoor swimming \u2013 in lakes, rivers or the ocean \u2013 cold showers or even ice baths. It has been used for a while by sportspeople<\/a> as a way to<\/a> reduce muscle soreness<\/a> and speed up recovery<\/a> time \u2013 with people typically spending about ten minutes after exercise in cold water that\u2019s about 10-15\u00b0C<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Cold water has also been used to help treat symptoms of depression<\/a>, pain<\/a> and migraine<\/a>. Indeed, there are many accounts of how cold water therapy<\/a> has changed lives, cured broken hearts<\/a> and helped people during difficult times<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

While many studies<\/a> have shown benefits linked to ice baths and post-exercise recovery, research from 2014 found there could be a placebo effect going on here.<\/p>\n\n

Indeed, research into the potential benefits of cold water therapy or outdoor swimming is in its early stages, but what is clear is that cold water immersion can have potentially harmful effects<\/a> on the human body. <\/p>\n\n

Cold water risks<\/h2>\n\n

With any activity that\u2019s intended for therapeutic effect, the minimum requirement is that it \u201cdoes no harm\u201d. But we can\u2019t say that about cold water \u2013 as it comes with a lot of risks<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

At the moment, the science to fully support cold water as a therapy<\/a> is not available and it\u2019s not yet known if there is a certain duration or temperature that works best. But what we do know is that less is definitely more<\/a> when it comes to cold water immersion. In other words, going in colder water or staying in for longer is not better for you. In fact, it can have just the opposite effect. <\/p>\n\n

In the UK, the water temperatures in natural environments are roughly between 10-28\u00b0C in the summer, falling to between 0-7\u00b0C in the winter. And it\u2019s important to point out that open water temperatures lag behind air temperatures, so in April when the air temperature can be warm the sea temperature, even on the south coast, is likely to be below 10\u00b0C.<\/p>\n\n

It might seem that when it comes to cold water therapy, showers and baths are a less hazardous option because you have greater control in terms of temperature and exposure time compared with open water. But due to the colder temperatures showers and ice baths can achieve and the solitary nature of the immersion they still pose significant risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the little-known problems associated with cold water immersion is what\u2019s known as non-freezing cold injury<\/a>. When we are exposed to the cold, it\u2019s normal for the hands and feet to feel very cold or numb and they may tingle or be painful on rewarming. For most people, these symptoms are transient, with normal sensations returning within a few minutes. But for those with non-freezing cold injury, these symptoms (pain, altered sensation and cold sensitivity) can persist in the affected areas for many years due to nerve<\/a> and blood vessel<\/a> damage. <\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s caused by prolonged exposure to cold and wet conditions such as those seen in the trenches during wars \u2013 hence its nickname \u201ctrench foot\u201d. It\u2019s not just the military who are susceptible though, cases have been recently reported<\/a> in rough sleepers and those undertaking water sports<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Another issue is that it\u2019s not known how cold is too cold when it comes to cold water immersion and non-freezing cold injury. There are also a lot of differences in the way our individual bodies respond to cooling<\/a>. For example, those from African and Caribbean backgrounds seem to be more susceptible to non-freezing cold injury<\/a> \u2013 so the risks from cold exposure will vary between different people.<\/p>\n\n

Encouragingly though, one study from 2020 with cold water swimmers indicates that although they may have cold sensitivity, this was not associated with damage to the blood vessels in the skin<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

Cold water tips<\/h2>\n\n

So if you are wanting to give cold water therapy a go, here are some things to consider:<\/p>\n\n

\u2022 Check with your GP beforehand to make sure it\u2019s safe for you to do.<\/p>\n\n

\u2022 Make sure you\u2019re not alone and the water is safe \u2013 if outdoors consider tides, currents, waves, underwater obstacles, pollution and jelly fish. <\/p>\n\n

\n \"Boy\n
\n Always make sure you\u2019re careful when immersing yourself in cold water, don\u2019t stay too long and look after yourself afterwards.<\/span>\n Michele Ursi\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\n

\u2022 Plan how you\u2019re going to get in and out of the water safely (remember that your muscles won\u2019t work as well when you\u2019re cold and you may not be able to feel with your hands and feet).<\/p>\n\n

\u2022 Know how you\u2019re going to get warm afterwards – make sure you have towels, dry clothes, windproofs, a hot drink and somewhere to shelter. Don\u2019t drive or cycle until you have completely warmed up.<\/p>\n\n

\u2022 Only stay in cold water for a short period of time, get out before you experience numbness, pain or shivering.\"The<\/p>\n\n

Heather Massey<\/a>, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Science & Health, School of Sport, Health & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em>; Clare Eglin<\/a>, Principal Lecturer in the School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em>, and Mike Tipton<\/a>, Professor of Human and Applied Physiology, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heather Massey, University of Portsmouth; Clare Eglin, University of Portsmouth, and Mike Tipton, University of Portsmouth Immersion in…\n","protected":false},"author":464,"featured_media":6317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[783,474],"class_list":{"0":"post-6337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-and-body","8":"tag-cold-water-therapy","9":"tag-the-conversation","10":"cs-entry","11":"cs-video-wrap"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6338,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6337\/revisions\/6338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}