How A Cold Shower Can Fight Inflammation and Even Lengthen Lifespans

Every year, hardy men, women, and children around the world celebrate New Year’s Day by racing into frigid water. It’s easy to question the sanity of these “polar bear plungers.” Turns out they might be onto something. The Fountain of Youth might actually be frosty. 

Immersions in chilly water are more than just the latest health fad. Indeed, many physicians are also extolling the benefits of a cold plunge. Not only do wellness gurus swear by their efficacy but respected medical journals have published studies suggesting that hydrotherapy in chilly water can lessen the severity of colds, improve depression, and reduce chronic inflammation. Read on to discover what science says about the benefits of cold water bathing and if it is an inexpensive way not only to improve health but lengthen lifespans. 

The History of Cold Water Therapy  

Cold’s benefits have been touted for millennia. Cryotherapy, or the use of cold for health, was widely embraced by the ancient Greeks. Even before they were shivering in chilly water, Edwin Smith Papyrus was describing its therapeutic uses in 3500 BCE. Greeks deployed frigid water for both relaxation and the restoration of health. Although Hippocrates may have been the first man of medicine to write about cold water’s medical uses, doctors have been extolling the fever-reducing benefits of a cold plunge for centuries. 

In 1904, the first recorded New Year’s Day polar bear plunge took place in South Boston, Massachusetts. One-hundred years later, dozens of clubs encourage frigid dippers. In Europe, the Danes not only popularized plunging into frigid water but did so sans clothing enjoying skinny dips in sub-freezing temperatures. Some 20,000 of them are ice-hole swimmers who plunge in after cutting a hole in a frozen lake. And every year, Skagen, the country’s northernmost town hosts a winter swimming festival where locals run naked into the nearly freezing Baltic Sea. Other than bragging rights, what are the benefits of a cold plunge?

Dutch motivational speaker Wim Hof writes about how dips in chilly water can reduce stress and improve overall health. Yet unlike many pop cures, this one has science on its side. In 2015, Dutch researchers followed some 3000 healthy participants and compared those who showered in cold water at the conclusion of a hot shower to those who did not. The researchers discovered a nearly one-third reduction in the number of sick days taken by those who complete their showers with a chilly rinse.

A more recent examination of studies discovered that cold water immersion may not only improve participant’s immune system responses to infection but could also deliver cardiovascular benefits, improved insulin sensitivity and better overall mental health. While there was a caveat that many people who take cold water plunges are already in good physical condition, they did note the reduction of body fat in cold-water swimmers. So what are the benefits of a cold plunge and how can chilly hydrotherapy (even in our own showers) improve our health?

Fighting Chronic Inflammation

Inflammation in the body is a healthy, necessary response. Triggered by a cut or a cold, a battalion of white blood cells flow toward the problem. These cells speed up healing while fighting infection. In an injury, the swelling or inflammation is visible. 

Unfortunately, too much of a good thing can become dangerous. If the Inflammation in the body is triggered by stress or diet, it doesn’t subside. It’s like stepping on the gas pedal in a car and flooding the engine. Unchecked, chronic inflammation may lead to cancer, heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression. Signs of chronic inflammation include joint soreness, fatigue, fever, and weight gain. Worldwide, inflammatory diseases are responsible for fifty percent of all deaths.  

As with many modern concerns, the solution lies with what we eat. An anti-inflammatory diet reduces consumption of foods that can trigger chronic inflammation like white bread, cakes, cookies, red meat, sugar-laden soda and fired foods. Instead, the best anti-inflammatory diets feature lots of vegetables and fruits along with lean protein options like chicken or fish. Fiber is also essential to reversing chronic inflammation, something found in whole grain foods, as is reducing stress. 

Cold plunges also seem to deliver a natural anti-inflammatory benefit. Just as an ice pack can reduce swelling in an injury, cold water reduces chronic inflammation in a variety of ways. For one thing, there’s an immediate response from both our immune and our nervous systems. This seems to prepare these systems for future threats from a virus or daily stress (one reason the people taking cold showers reported fewer sick days.)

Another benefit of a cold plunge is that it elevates levels of two enzymes. AMPK (adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase) influences the storage of body fat, while mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin) controls cell growth. When activated by cold water, the two enzymes work in concert to improve our metabolisms. This includes transforming energy-storing white fat into heat-generating brown fat. This is a natural anti-inflammatory response seen in swimmers who exercise in cold water. 

“When your cells get cold, they work slower,” Dr. Rahi Sarbaziha, a Los Angeles based-double board-certified anti-aging and integrative aesthetics doctor told The Robb Report. “Ordinarily, your cells are flying around and can’t regenerate while they’re doing other duties. That slow down helps your body get extra time to regenerate and heal.”

Anyone hoping to unlock the anti-aging benefits of a cold plunge, should first determine their overall health. This doesn’t always mean fighting traffic and killing time waiting in a tedious doctor’s office. Instead, Kyla Clinics offers a simple, at-home blood test that will deliver insights into your health from the comfort of your couch. While similar tests can cost hundreds of dollars, our at-home tests are just $99.

Start by filling out an easy online health quiz. This will help you discover areas that you can improve. Then select the best test for you. In just a few days, you’ll receive the test kit along with instructions for sample collection. Return the sample to our labs postage-free. You’ll not only get prompt, accurate results about your hormonal levels, cardiovascular health, and inflammation markers but you will also have an opportunity to speak with a Kyla doctor. You’ll receive personalized advice designed to improve upon or maintain the results from your health test. 

This means you can achieve long-lasting changes from Kyla’s revolutionary anti-aging treatments. By taking proactive steps to enhance your well-being, you can address the root cause of issues like chronic inflammation, not just the symptoms. Along with tailored lifestyle adjustments, medication, and supplements you’ll discover new treatments and AI-driven protocols that may even extend your lifespan indefinitely.

Mental Health and Cold Water 

Health is not just about the body. It’s about the mind as well. Danish divers who plunge into cold water, report an immediate improvement in mental health. This too has a scientific basis. “Cold showers can increase dopamine, your happy chemical; calm your nervous system; and can help you sleep better,” Dr. Neil Paulvin, a New York-based board-certified longevity and regenerative medicine doctor told The Robb Report. “As your nervous system resets from the cold showers, your fight-or-flight system is calming down.” 

Many people living in cold climes believe the benefits of a cold plunge include an immediate release from seasonal affective disorder. “Denmark can be really miserable from November to April,” Mikkel Falk Møller, 43 pointed out to the BBC. A decade-long winter swimming club member, he believes that going from a sauna to cold water is the perfect combo for mental health hydrotherapy. “There is hardly any daylight and we often have weeks without seeing the sun. A lot of people (myself included) suffer from mild winter depression.When you throw yourself into the cold water and then into a boiling sauna, it gives you energy and an enormous endorphin kick.”

Anyone hoping to recreate these benefits should start with a minute-long chilly rinse after their normal hot shower. Slowly increase the length of the cold spray over time. If you have access to a hot tub or a sauna, cold water after heat has been shown to maximize the mental and physical health benefits. 

This technique, while thousands of years old, is part of a 21st century regimen that aims to create a Fountain of Youth for the new millennium. It’s not about weird potions and cures but rather a diligent effort to lengthen lifespan until it reaches what is sometimes called longevity escape velocity. 

Simply put, your life could be lengthened by more than one year every year you are alive. All of this may someday be possible thanks to recent advances in medicine and the technologies that support health care. Kyla Clinics believes not just in increasing your length of life but your quality of life as well. This means first eliminating life-robbing conditions like chronic inflammation. To learn more about healthy aging and developing habits that will keep your risk for age-related diseases low, download the Kyla app today.

Source:

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2. Holland, Mary. “The Danish trick to “shock” your body into happiness,” BBC. March 2, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200228-the-danish-trick-to-shock-your-body-into-happiness
3. “Polar Bear Plunge Day,” National Today. https://nationaltoday.com/polar-bear-plunge-day/
4. “How the cold comforts of ice bathing may aid longevity,” Medix https://medix-global.com/how-the-cold-comforts-of-ice-bathing-may-aid-longevity/
5. Peacock, Chris. “The naked truth: cold-water swimming in Skagen, Denmark,” Escapism Magazine. March 22, 2016.  https://escapismmagazine.com/inspiration/the-naked-truth-naked-swimming-in-skagen-denmark/
6. Buijze, Geert A., et al. “The Effect of Cold Showering on Health and Work: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” PLoS One. September 15, 2016. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5025014/pdf/pone.0161749.pdf
7. Esperland, Didrik et al. “Health effects of voluntary exposure to cold water – a continuing subject of debate.” International Journal of Circumpolar Health. September 22, 2022. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9518606/
8. Ricciotti, Hope. M.D., and Toni Golen, M.D. “What is inflammation, and why is it dangerous?” Harvard Women’s Health Watch. March 1, 2020. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/what-is-inflammation-and-why-is-it-dangerous
9. “What is inflammation?” Cleveland Clinic. March 3, 2022. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21660-inflammation
10. Evans, Sean. “I Took Cold Showers for Six Months. Here Are Five Ways It Improved My Health,” The Robb Report. August 29, 2023. https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/cold-showers-health-benefits-1234889141/