The Pros and Cons of Cold Therapy: A Comprehensive Look
Cold plunges are all the rage. Maybe what you need is less rage and more rest?
Cold shower therapy, also known as cryotherapy or cold therapy, is the practice of taking a cold shower or submerging the body in cold water for short periods of time. It's been used for centuries for various purposes, such as improving circulation, reducing inflammation, and relieving muscle soreness.
Cold water causes the blood vessels to constrict, which can increase blood flow to the organs and other parts of the body. This increased blood flow can help to improve overall health and well-being, and may also help to reduce the risk of certain diseases (1).
Cold water can also help to reduce inflammation in the body by slowing down the production of inflammatory chemicals, which can help to reduce pain and discomfort (2). Cold water may also help to reduce muscle soreness by slowing down the production of lactic acid (3).
Cold shower therapy can also have psychological benefits such as increase the release of endorphins, which can improve mood and reduce feelings of stress and anxiety (4). It's important to start with warm water and gradually decrease the temperature and avoid cold water if you have certain medical conditions. Consult with a healthcare provider before starting.
[Thank you Chat GPT]
Problem 1: Â Everything is a Stressor
Let's have a discussion about the cons of cold therapy. Â To clarify, I'm specifically talking about the "Wim Hoff Winter Challenge" I posted on Instagram in December.
In short, I was taking a 5 minute cold shower and doing 5-10 minutes of Wim Hof breathing every  morning.  After two weeks I had to stop because of multiple infections (respiratory, fungal, and sinus).  It was a delightful month of recovery after that.
It's not fair to blame all the infections on one practice, but it is accurate to say that once the door is cracked by one infection, you're far more susceptible to others.
We would do well to recall:
Blanket approaches rarely work (well).
Cold exposure is a stressor.
Hyperventilation (Wim Hof) is a stressor.
Stress is valuable in so far as we can recover from it and subsequently grow – think resistance training.  It's less than unhelpful to "Relax f*ing harder!"
In other words, if you're piling up a queue of "things to do" that are "supposed to help you relax" aren't you really just adding more crap to your plate? Â Compensating for some insecurity by overtraining? (5).
I have to eat my just desserts after last month's newsletter regarding "piling on more trendy challenge things vs. considering what and where I'm at right now."
Problem 2: Â Wired but Tired
Most people are chronically "wired but tired."  Which means we're jacked full of stimulants from caffeine to blue light / screens yet overworked, bored, anxious, and struggle to keep meaningful relationships – look into the social statistics.
The problem with "hacks" including "bio" and "life" hacks is that we often interpret them as this definition:
1) a useful short cut
But rarely consider a "hack" a:
2) con-artist, charlatan
Once upon 2010 my "health and fitness journey" began by signing up at a MMA gym and picking up a copy of The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss.  Suffice to say I've outgrown that book in many ways, but it reminds me that when you're searching for the "minimum effective dose"; you need a laundry list of hacks – to this end the book serves it's purpose.
However, there's a huge cognitive load that comes will all of that, and I suppose your average couch potato has a few cognitive CPU cycles to spare. Â But, what if you are or want to be closer to a point-of-diminishing-returns (+1 SD) rather than minimum-effective-dose (-1 SD)?
If you pause to understand why or to what end you're doing things, you find that Wim Hof breathing (for example) makes the body more acidic (6). Â Exercise also does that. Â So, which will you choose? Â Both? Â Are you counting the accumulating stressors mentioned in Problem 1?
Some people, a lot of them actually, need a kick in the ass (in a positive way). Â Others need a sauna and psilocybin more than a daily WOD and more get-your-ass-in-gear-and-go.
Problem 3: Â Context and Climate Matter
Last summer I implemented weekly ice baths out of necessity for recovery. Â If you're unfamiliar with the climate of the Southeastern US let me acquaint you with our two seasons:
Summer-ish (8-10 months): Approximately 80'F and 80% humidity.
Winter-ish (2-4 months): 40'F and raining for days on end, followed by single digit temperatures, temperature spike to 70'F, repeat.
Just adding up the time (volume) and cold exposure (% body covered by water) I might have had similar exposure in December as in August; so I don't think it was a matter of "the dose makes the poison."
However, the outdoor climate was much different. Â Instead of stepping out of the tub into a swarmy summer, it was prime pathogen climate: wet > warm > cold > wet.
I know there are many people in snowy, icey regions that do regular cold plunges... and train hard... and do all the caveats I'm pointing out here. Â Literally, our bodies keep score and there's no cheating it.
Illness and injury are ironic ways of forcing us to acknowledge that something's been misaligned. Â Perhaps it wasn't just training and the weather. Â What other emotional baggage are you carrying between holiday finances, family drama, work responsibilities, etc. ?
Many of those things are difficult to measure objectively, yet it is no surprise that psychological stressors contribute to immune system suppression (7, 8). Â It is noted in the literature that there are distinctions between acute and chronic stressors; the former sometimes stimulating the immune system.
How "chronic" or "acute" depends greatly on context; some of which we can measure, plan, and prepare for – like training schedules or even the weather to some degree – others  less so – how many people really check in with their relationships with themselves, their work, their finances, their children, etc. as "often as they should?"
Conclusion:
Know yourself: Â Plan, be weary of trends and challenges.
Take time to unwind and recover: Often that means doing less, not more.
The body keeps the score.
As a final anecdote, cold exposure in the form of plunges may not be ancestrally congruent. Â It seems undesirable for a being without a permanent dwelling, let alone one without central heat would willfully expose themselves to more acute stress (in addition to the tigers they're competing with for food).
What our ancestors did get was gradual chronic exposure as seasons changed or tribes migrated. Â How did they cope with these stressors and the perpetual threat of weather and being eaten alive? Â Since they didn't have a 24-hour news cycle to keep them paranoid, they likely did a lot of playing and exploring which is fundamental to our brain's development (9).
For me, the cold showers are a no-go – at least until it's above 70' or I can get outside and "play" a little more.  Confirmation bias because I always hated them anyway?  Perhaps.  But I'd rather be wrong and spare myself from cleaning up that much mucus and puss ever again.