The Science and Benefits of Cold Plunge
Stress can be good. Shocking the body through the seemingly insane practice of taking a cold plunge in an ice bath, can produce a wide range of benefits for body and mind. The benefits of a habitual or ritualised ice bath have been explored by many and popularised in modern times by Wim Hof.
Ice baths have been used for decades as an effective tool for post-exercise recovery and are becoming increasingly featured, trending on Instagram, TikTok and even being used by athletes pre and post workout in the Crossfit Games.
With ice baths becoming a viral sensation, the exploration into benefits of cold plunge are also being further explored. The benefits of ice baths and cold water exposure has been discussed in depth by experts in the fied like Dr Susanna Soeberg, Dr Andrew Huberman and Dr Rhonda Patrick, who each plunge into the cold hard facts about what exactly a regular ice bath can do for everything from mental health, fat loss, resilience, muscle recovery, sleep, hormones, brain health, focus and energy levels.
In this article, we will explore some of these key ice bath benefits in depth and show you how you can incorporate using cold plunge at home to boost daily health and wellbeing. For athletes and home users alike, there are a couple of key reasons to take regular ice baths following exercise and as part of a simple practice to improve overall health.
Whether you are already a regular ice bather looking for more information on ice baths or a cold plunge skeptic looking for the science behind cold water immersion, we 10 benefits of ice baths that give you good reason to start, maintain or increase your cold plunge practice.
Ice Bath Benefits
Some of benefits of ice baths are discreet, some are long lasting and others happen almost instantly. Originally made popular by sporting teams using ice baths for post match recovery, ice baths are an effective way to reduce inflammation. Now, the average ice bath user is also taking a cold plunge for its benefits associated with managing stress and mental health, improving metabolic health and weight loss goals, impacting brain health, improving sleep and increasing mental resilience.
While submerging the body up to the neck in the freezing cold water, known as cold exposure or cold therapy, might sound ridiculous and crazy, the benefits that a habituated cold plunge practice produces are scientifically supported and described by multiple health experts.
Hormetic Stressor
Adaptive or hormetic stressors are those which make the body more resilient and stronger when exposed to them in the right doses. This is quite literally a case of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. When you shock the body by exposure to the cold, in this case in cold water, it is a stress on the body that forces it to try to maintain or return to homeostasis.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick discusses this function of ice baths quite in depth and explains that the release of various hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain and body when you submerge the body in cold water is initially creating a fight or flight response but then shift the body into a state of relaxation and calm, providing adaptations. On her website, she also has a section that explains the evolutionary origins of hormesis including a video.
Cold water immersion produces cold shock proteins in the body, which is an emerging area of research. The benefit of cold shock proteins is that they promote a sort recycling or adaption of the cells. Cold shock proteins can help to reduce inflammation and have shown use in treatment of issues like chronic pain and autoimmune conditions like Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Metabolic Health
Ice baths have some pretty special metabolic benefits that can result in improved metabolic health. Through the activation and stimulation of brown adipose tissue (BAT), of brown fat, cold water exposure can improve metabolic efficiency and promote weight loss and fat loss.
It is well known in science that exposing the body to cold environments, like the cold water of an ice plunge, can increase metabolism and increase fat burning. When we enter a cold environment, the natural response of the body is to attempt to stabilise our own body temperature by shivering and or increasing thermogenic rate to heat up.
This homeostatic response of getting in the cold is a mechanism made possible by shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis. While shivering thermogenesis might be noticeable with the common experience of shivering all of the body when doing an ice bath, the non-shivering thermogenesis is a little more discreet.
Shivering from a cold plunge is extremely common and completely normal when exposing the body to cold temperature, a sensation that the majority of the population has felt. These small, or large if you are really cold, muscle contractions are the bodies attempt at converting kinetic energy into heat energy and heating the body back up. This is great for metabolism and helps with the weight loss benefits of cold plunge.
Non-shivering thermogenesis is the mechanism we don’t really see, although may be able to notice with the increased threshold to the cold. What is interesting is that, taking an ice bath or a cold dip, stimulates our production of brown fat, which creates heat in the absence of shivering. Basically, the more brown fat we produce, the better we are at managing the cold and the more metabolically efficient we become.
Non-shivering thermogenesis is the key topic of some recent research from Dr Susanna Soeberg (Soeberg et al, 2021), who also insists that the best way to achieve the optimal metabolic benefits of an ice bath is to allow the body to reheat naturally with no warm water or clothing, and to finish on the cold when doing contrast therapy.
A key hormone that we mention over and over is norepinephrine, and the massive release of this hormone and neurochemical is the thing that stimulates the brown fat production. In fact, “a study in which healthy young men were exposed to cold for two hours a day for 20 days found that brown fat volume increased 45 percent and cold-induced total brown fat oxidative metabolism increased more than twofold”.
By submerging the body in extreme cold water up the neck for a few minutes at a time, the flood of norepinephrine and subsequent huge boost in brown fat stimulation upon cold exposure may also have positive implications for those with insulin resistance and diet induced obesity. When you hop in an ice bath, the production of norepinephrine in the brain, while having the benefit of boosting mental health and mood, may also be responsible for regulating metabolism and helping to improve glucose and insulin sensitivity, increase fat utilisation, and protect against diet-induced obesity.
Mental Health and Mood
People are increasingly plunging into the icy waters of a frozen lake or breaking apart the hard ice top of a frozen-over cold plunge, because of how it makes them feel mentally. Thanks largely to our good friend norepinephrine and the way it can shift our nervous state, ice baths could be the key to helping reduce anxiety and depression naturally.
Despite limited specific research, thousands of people around the world have anecdotal evidence of just how much submerging the body into cold water can improve their mental health and mood. While ice baths have traditionally been used by athletes for sports recovery, taking a plunge is now being taken up by the masses to improve their wellbeing and headspace.
While the recommended temperature for cold plunge is about 10-15 degrees Celsius, taking a long cold shower each morning can tick the box for some of the benefits of cold water exposure according to studies.
So how can an ice bath improve mental health?
The cold shock from an ice bath initially sends the body into fight or flight mode, activating the sympathetic nervous system and flooding the body with adrenaline or norepinephrine up to 5 times normal levels. This huge spike in the hormone and neurotransmitter produces many downstream effects, one of which being a shift in nervous state. It is this spike in norepinephrine that gives the cold its promise for having utility as a natural alternative to prescription medications.
As norepinephrine plays a significant role in mood, emotions and feelings of wellbeing, such a large spike as exhibited from cold exposure studies, gives the humble ice bath its mental health boosting ability. Norepinephrine plays a large role in depression and evidence suggests that imbalances in norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine can have a negative effect on mental health. Although there have been limited specific studies on the direct link between ice baths and depression, it could be suggested that anecdotal evidence shows the norepinephrine boost from a cold plunge session of just 2 minutes could also boost mood.
Resilience
When we talk about resilience, we talk about the ability to withstand hardship, do hard things, show up with consistency, have emotional stability and grit in the face of adversity. Resilience must be carved, only a small amount if born.
The idea of doing hard things to make other hard things easier, definitely applies to ice baths. Interestingly, the feelings and physiological responses triggered by a difficult situation that you are forced into, rather than on your own accord are completely different. As such, doing stressful and challenging things like submerging the naked body up to the next in extreme cold water on your own accord, allows you the mental space to control yourself, overcome the challenge by breathing and talking yourself through it.
By engaging in things like ice baths and saunas, which are themselves a stress, you are forging the mental resilience to work through what comes up and build a toolkit for overcoming hurdles. In an ice bath you face pain, discomfort, urges to run, head noise, your ego and fear. By controlling the breath and ‘doing what is hard, when it is easy’ gives you the opportunity to grow in a controlled environment.
The science of doing practices like this indicate that they afford you better top down control associated with the pre-frontal cortex, allowing you to have better control over urges, addictions, habits and rational decision making.
Lymphatic System
Your lymphatic system is part of your circulatory system, and comes into play post exercise (among other times) for maintaining fluid levels, removing waste products and supporting immune response. Ice baths can benefit the lymphatic system.
The lymphatic system is a key player in your immune response, containing lymphocytes and other white blood cells that are essential in fighting off bacteria, viruses and pathogens. The flow of lymphatic fluid is essential in having an effective immune response, and research indicates that cold therapy may improve the efficiency of the flow of lymph around the body.
Muscle Recovery
Faster recovery from exercise including pain, swelling and inflammation reduction are perhaps the most common reasons people take an ice bath. Ice baths are a common practice among sporting teams for post game recovery and have even recently come to the forefront at events like the Crossfit Games with big names like Rich Froning touting the benefits of ice baths.
The science behind using cold plunge for this reason comes down to two main things: shock proteins and vasoconstriction. Cold exposure causes an initial vasoconstriction and central pooling of the blood to protect the vital organs. In a study, following an ice bath the muscles had higher oxygenation, greater force production and decreased muscle soreness.
Hot tip: to further boost this vasodilation or increased blood flow after an ice bath, you could try contrast therapy whereby you cycle through blocks of cold plunge then into a sauna, repeating this over a couple of rounds. We really like the protocol of five minutes ice bath at 10 degrees C, then 10 minutes sauna at 80 degrees C, three times through. This is known as contrast therapy and is commonly used by high level athletes to recover faster and reduce pain and inflammation.
The shock protein side of things, cold exposure is now known to release cold shock proteins, much like heat therapy from a sauna releases heat shock proteins. These cold shock proteins such as RNA binding motif 3 (RBM3) are linked to regeneration of synapses. This process allows for dead or damaged proteins to be destroyed and removed while new cells are produced, potentially speeding up injury recovery.
Brain Health
Ice baths activate the sympathetic nervous system, heart rate increases, pupils dilate, blood vessels constrict and the vagus nerve is stimulated, causing a cascade of positive effects. The release of norepinephrine and adrenaline from taking an ice bath could have some effect on the brain that show great promise for alternatives to prescription medications.
If you take regular ice baths like we do at Ritual Recovery, you may be familiar with the before and effects of a single ice bath session on your energy levels and mood. Having gone into 100’s of cold plunge sessions with low energy, lethargy and low mood, then come out the other end full of vitality, energy and good vibes it is quite obvious that cold plunge has some pretty awesome affects on the brain.
In a study from 2008, cold shock was shown to significantly increase the production of the hormone and neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, in the brain which significantly impacts mood and energy. What norepinephrine does is play a huge part in your state of mind including mood and emotions so increasing it can cause big shifts in overall mood and feelings of wellbeing.
Depression and anxiety are two of the biggest mental health conditions globally. As a caveat, if you are experiencing any mental health issues, you should get in touch with a professional for support and medical advice and only use the information in our article for educational and informative purposes.
The link between ice bath benefits and depression is also through norepinephrine. Norepinephrine plays a large role in depression and evidence suggests that imbalances in norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine can have a negative effect on mental health. Although there have been limited specific studies on the direct link between ice baths and depression, it could be suggested that anecdotal evidence shows the norepinephrine boost from a cold plunge session of just 2 minutes could also boost mood.
Energy Boost
If you are familiar with a real cold plunge or even if you know the feeling of taking a cold shower, you have felt the effects of the cold taking your breath away, causing pupils to dilate, breathing to accelerate and heart rate to rise initially. These are all in conjunction with huge releases of norepinephrine and adrenaline that are basically signalling that you should leave the environment. If you can sit with this feeling long enough and fight the urge to leave you are promoting a few pertinent benefits.
The norepinephrine release from ice baths is regulating the production of brown fat and improving mitochondrial function or the generation of ATP. The healthier your mitochondria are, the more ATP is produced, essentially meaning that the greater your aerobic capacity will be.
The heavy release of epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) from cold plunge are neurochemicals that can make us feel alert and can make us feel agitated, evident with the shouts and moans that are seemingly uncontrollable for some people taking an ice bath. Cold causes the levels of these hormones to stay super high for hours after the exposure and will effectively elevate energy and focus long beyond the ice, both physically and mentally.
Sleep Benefits of Ice Baths
What are the sleep benefits of ice baths? It is well known in science that body temperature and light signalling are two of the most important signaller for sleep. At night, a drop in core body temperature is a big indicator and factor in transitioning efficiently into sleep. Conversely, in the morning we tend to have a waking from sleep effect in response to warming.
Ice baths definitely drop the core body temperature, which would be seen as a positive effect for sleep. Many people are divided on this front though, as there can be a rebounding effect on your body temperature as it heats back up from the cold exposure, which could negatively impact sleep. What this comes down to for many people is deciding on the lesser of the evils.
For many people, insomnia is a big issue, and finding what works for you may mean trying an ice bath before bed. With stress, anxiety and a busy mind playing a large role in sleep difficulties, having a cold plunge may help to shift the body out of fight or flight and into rest and digest mode, the parasympathetic state.
What The Experts Say About Cold Plunge
Last time I did a cold plunge, I remember feeling slightly dizzy and my breath appeared to turn slightly icy and metallic, I wondered exactly what was going on. Generally, I have experienced only positive benefits of ice baths and cold plunge which are benefits backed up largely by various scientific studies and the increased attention of health experts and personalities like Joe Rogan.
While on a number of forums for Cold Plunge or Ice Baths, I noticed that the dizziness was a common occurrence with some pointing to low blood sugar levels and mild hypothermia, but didn’t find any conclusive reasoning for it.
Much of the other anecdotal evidence I have for the other positive benefits of ice baths like reduced muscle soreness, lowered pain perception, improvements in sleep, lower stress and cortisol, increased mood and more mental resilience are thankfully clearly backed by many experts. Below are some various expert viewpoints on cold plunge or cold water exposure as a practice.
Joe Rogan on Cold Plunge
Most people know Joe Rogan for his honest, wide ranging discussions on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Being a UFC commentator and martial arts expert, Rogan regularly discusses recovery methods like ice baths.
In a recent podcast, he talks about using the Morozko Cold Plunge tub at 34 degrees F for helping him overcome inflammation, pain and body soreness. He also talks a lot about the overall benefits of doing hard or challenging things over and over to reap the rewards of better self-control, mental resilience and toughness.
Andrew Huberman on Cold Plunge
Andrew Huberman and many of his podcast guests discuss the science and benefits of deliberate cold exposure for humans. On his website, Huberman has a fantastic summary of the benefits of cold plunge and these are all explained in depth in episode 66 of the Huberman Lab.
Huberman references the science and makes the recommendation of doing deliberate cold exposure for 11 minutes per week which can be spread over 3 or 4 cold plunge sessions of a couple of minutes each. Without specifying too much on ideal temperature, although he does say the colder the better, he uses the base measure of saying that “the water temperature should be uncomfortably cold yet safe to stay in for a few minutes.”
Susanna Soeberg on Cold Plunge
Susanna Soeberg has a PhD in Metabolism, expert in heat and cold exposure and is the best selling author of a book called Dopamine Nation. There are loads of podcasts with Soeberg discussing the Science of cold plunge including this one on Soundcloud. She has an interesting Instagram page and shares mostly the latest knowledge and practices around cold and heat exposure as well as other wellness areas of interest.
Interestingly, Soeberg is a big advocate for maximising the benefits of ice baths and deliberate bouts of cold exposure by allowing the body to reheat on its own. She recommends to “end with cold” as the ideal practice to a contrast therapy protocol, for the reason that you are forcing the body to reach its ideal resting temperature or homeostasis and maximising the metabolic benefits. She says that shivering is good!
By allowing your body to shiver (shivering thermogenesis) this process may enhance metabolic increases from cold. Shivering causes the accumulation of succinate from muscles and further activates brown fat thermogenesis. Soeberg infers that, instead of opting for the instinctual crossing of the arms, hunching of the body and use of a towel to create warmth, you can almost double the metabolic benefit by letting the shivering run wild, with the arms raised upright and no towel wrapped.
Wim Hof on Cold Plunge
Wim Hof has a huge following for his practices and ideologies around cold exposure. He has created courses and a cult following around this, with teachings available online, including regular workshops around the world.
A quick google search of Wim Hof, shows countless videos, articles and even scientific research papers on him as he explored how he uses cold plunge and breathing to access the autonomic nervous system, thought to be completely automated. Despite his eccentric demeanor, Hof shares some very incredible and at the same time credible insights into the benefits and real life stories of cold water therapy. Indeed, he regularly changes people's lives through introducing them to cold exposure, breathing and movement.
Peter Attia on Cold Plunge
Back in 2020, Dr Peter Attia and Ross Edgley were experimenting with cold exposure in Norway by way of spending time outside in roughly -10 degree temperatures. The goal was brown fat activation which is one of the major benefits associated with cold exposure in general, not just cold water.
Petter Attia explores strategies and tactics to increase lifespan, health-span and wellbeing and optimise cognitive, physical and emotional health, no stranger to experimenting with and implementing practices like ice baths in the name of self-improvement.
Peter Attia describes cold exposure as cold showers, ice baths, open water swimming and even short walks in cold weather. On his website and various podcast episodes, Attia describes the way the sympathetic nervous system releases norepinephrine, stimulating brown fat and triggering both shivering and non-shivering thermogenesis.
In describing the positive effect that cold exposure has on the generation of brown fat and the “beiging” of white fat, he measures brown fat activity by using an infrared camera to capture a thermal map of the skin. Although there were limited conclusive results to confirm that brown fat activation could be used to treat metabolic issues, Attia references the positive effects of cold plunge on cardiovascular health, endocrine function, and the nervous system.
Conclusion on Ice Bath Benefits
The benefits of cold plunge have been explored in depth by so many experts, athletes and high performers now that they are difficult to ignore. Wim Hof definitely drove and reinvigoration of practicing ice baths as a tool for accessing deeper health and connection to the body.
By bringing the physiological benefits of cold exposure to the eye of the masses by going under the microscope in a scientific study, Hof was able to provide much greater insight into the actual potential of what ice baths combined with breathing practices can do for the human body.
So, if you came to this article hoping to confirm what you already knew, I am sure you are better equipped to explain the reasons why soaking your body in ice cold water and putting yourself through that pain and discomfort is helping to recover faster after running, lifting, team sports, marathons and cycling, generate more brown fat for better metabolic efficiency and actually impact your brain chemistry and mood.
