This is old news in the health and fitness world but it’s an intervention worth banging on about because for the cost (the cost of running if you have access to a shower) is next to nil, and the time cost is also nil. And yet, cold water therapy has been shown to ameliorate symptoms of anxiety and depression, it can help to decrease blood pressure and is therefore beneficial for the cardiovascular system, it can help increase metabolic rate and can help with energy metabolism and weight maintenance. It can also lower levels of cortisol, so great for stress (and who isn’t stressed these days). Dopamine concentrations have been shown to increase by 250% in one study conducted in water at 14 degree Celsius, 1 hour head-out water immersion; a potential intervention for those with Parkinson’s disease.
Furthermore, winter swimming has been shown to help reduce fatigue, memory issues, tension, and reportedly improves people’s pain thresholds in those with rheumatism and fibromyalgia. This may be because of cold therapy’s ability to slow down depolarisation of neurons and subsequently dampen nociceptor (pain receptor) activity. In another study, 40 sessions of Ai Chi water therapy improved pain, fatigue, depression, spasms and disability in patients with multiple sclerosis.
It’s also been reported to be beneficial for those with asthma, possibly due to the increase in white blood cells upon cold water exposure and cold water’s ability to decrease inflammatory pathways.
Cold water immersions are associated with fewer infections and respiratory infections, again possibly due to the increase in lymphocytes and subsequent modulation in interleukin expression, but also increases in peripheral natural killer cells and cytotoxic T-cells; the innate and adaptive cells respectively, which are also key in targeting tumours.
The outcome that caught my eye in particular was the effect even a simple cold-water shower has on the nervous system when it comes to depression. Much like electroconvulsive therapy used in medication-resistant depression, which is effective but can come with severe side effects such as memory loss and loss of intelligence quotient, cold water creates a mild electroshock effect in the cortex. These ‘shocks’ may therefore suppress psychosis-related activity in the meso-limbic system.
All of this and more, with no mention of the benefits on the musculoskeletal system.
It’s a hard sell to those with an aversion to the cold, particularly those of us who dwell in the northern climes, but it’s been argued that we evolved with exposure to changes in temperatures and that our modern lifestyles, with central heating and insulated homes, have weakened our bodies. Naturally, we want to be comfortable at all times, but that comes at a cost.
Give it a go. Start slow and start at 1 minute with the shower on cold, then build it up from there.
Then try the cold-water bath and report back 😉
Commenti