Cold Water Plunge

Details

As the body is exposed to extreme cold temperatures, it enacts a natural fight or flight response that constricts blood vessels to restrict blood away from extremities. This redirection causes your body to move blood toward the core, protecting your organs. During this process, the body increases its oxygen levels and certain proteins that can decrease swelling. These include alleviating muscle soreness, facilitating post-workout recovery, diminishing inflammation, and enhancing immune function, along with mental well-being by enhancing mental clarity and potentially reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Details below.

Benefits

    • Submerging yourself in the chilled water instantly numbs the nerves that surround your joints and muscles, causing the release of hormones and endorphins.

    • The release of hormones and endorphins acts as an analgesic, which relieves inflammation and alleviates muscle strain and joint pain.

    • As the cold water envelops the entire body, norepinephrine, an anti-stress hormone and neurotransmitter, and epinephrine/adrenaline are released which is what makes you feel so invigorated!

    • While the body tries to warm itself during and after a cold shower, metabolic rate speeds up and activates the immune system, which leads to the release of more white blood cells.

    • A plunge in frigid water causes your lymph vessels to contract, which forces your lymphatic system to pump lymph fluids throughout your body.

    • The flushing of fluid triggers the white blood cells to attack any foreign bodies in the body.

    • Cold water baths have shown to stimulate the lymphatic and immune system, which helps in boosting the production of infection-fighting cells thereby increasing your immunity.

    • As cold water hits your body and external limbs, it constricts circulation on the surface of your body.

    • This causes blood in your deeper tissues to circulate at faster rates to maintain ideal body temperature.

    • Nerves in the autonomic nervous system are activated during the cold plunge immersion.

    • The cold also stimulates you to take deeper breaths, decreasing the level of CO2 throughout the body, helping you concentrate.

    • The increase in fat burning during cold exposure is modulated by the sympathetic nervous system.

    • Cold temperatures act as a mild “workout” for the nervous system, which adapts and strengthens.

    • Subjects who were exposed to cold stress had an 80% increase in their metabolism over “warm” levels.

    • Cold exposure increases Brown Adipose Tissue activity, which leads to increased calorie expenditure.