Cold therapy has been all the rage lately for health-conscious and active people. From cryotherapy tanks to baths with ice, to knee sleeves that you can put in the freezer for that extra cold boost, cold therapy is the jam for helping muscles recover, boosting the nervous and immune system response, and helping with nerve function. If you’re wary of spending money on the cryo membership, and not quite ready for a frozen bath with ice, here are 5 benefits of taking cold showers to reap the benefits without the extreme measures. Shall we?
What Is Cold Therapy?
While inventions like cryotherapy tanks are relatively new, the actual application and use of cold therapy aren’t new at all. Cold therapy has been documented all the way back in the Edwin Smith Papyrus which happened around 3500 BC (yes, BC!). This medical text often mentioned the use of cold therapy applications for the body in a medical sense. However, it isn’t until recently that technology has advanced and new methods of using cold therapy have come to fruition for everything from sports medicine to inflammation, and even for patients with medical diagnoses like rheumatoid arthritis.
5 Benefits Of Taking Cold Showers
While there are quite a few benefits of cold water therapy and taking cold showers, we’re going to highlight 5 major ones that you can benefit from starting today. Please note: we do not recommend rapid immersion of the human body into cold water without proper supervision as this can cause a rapid change in body temperature.
Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation in the body can cause unwanted aches and pains that put a damper on daily quality of life. One of the best benefits of taking cold showers regularly is that you can actually combat inflammation because of the rice of adiponectin, a protein in the body that helps to reduce and prevent systemic inflammation in the human body. [R]
Improve Muscle Recovery
Athletes and active people often take cold showers to help improve muscle recovery, improve blood flow, reduce swelling and improve metabolic demands. [R] The benefits of taking cold showers for athletes and those who constantly put their bodies under tension also include having a positive impact on reducing muscle enzymes that cause muscle damage, like creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase. [R]
Regulate Blood Sugar Levels
The benefits of taking cold showers can also be seen by observing adiponectin levels after the shower, which contributes to insulin resistance and aiding in the body’s positive response to insulin. [R] When you have better insulin resistance, you can better balance and regulate blood sugar levels, leading us to our next benefit, improving the body’s fat-burning ability.
Improve Fat Burning
The benefits of taking cold showers on a regular basis have actually been shown to help the body burn more calories and even burn more fat, due to the energy demands put on the body to regulate body temperature. If the body has to work harder to keep the body at a regular temperature, it is going to increase the caloric expenditure, and therefore burn more calories. [R] Additionally, higher levels of adiponectin are associated with lower body weight and body fat percentages and when you take cold showers, adiponectin increases. [R]
Support Healthy Aging
We can take all the help we can get when aging so that we can age gracefully (can I get an AMEN!?). It’s been observed that taking cold showers and undergoing cold therapy can not only burn more calories but can also slow the aging process, increasing longevity, and supporting a healthy aging process. It is thought that cold exposure helps hormesis, which is the paradoxical adaptation that animals undergo when exposed to cold temperatures, making them stronger and more efficient. [R]
Benefits of Taking Cold Showers - In Conclusion
In short, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. There are a variety of physiological benefits that you can reap by taking cold showers, whether you’re an athlete looking to improve recovery or trying to enhance your weight loss efforts. If you’ve never taken one, we recommend giving a cold shower a try. And if you’re looking to take it to the next level? Stop by a cryotherapy business and really see what the hype is all about!