How do ice baths reduce inflammation?
Whether it’s challenging yourself to an extended cold plunge in an ice bath pod, or making the effort to take regular cold showers from the privacy of your bathroom, it’s safe to say that all manner of cold-water therapies have become popular in recent years.
Naturally, this is thanks in part to their proven ability to boost mental awareness and acuity, as well as their fantastic muscle recovery benefits. However, ice baths have also been shown to potentially reduce inflammation as well.
But this begs the question – how does ice reduce inflammation when bathing, and is inflammation something you want to prevent in the body after a workout? Read on to find out more about this topic!
What is inflammation?
In order to understand how exposure to ice and cold temperatures impacts inflammation in the body, it’s first important to acknowledge the science behind swelling and its purpose in muscle development and recovery.
Essentially, inflammation is activated as part of your body’s immune system’s response to infection, pain, and damage. Its main purpose is to protect the body part in question from being attacked by bacteria or other contaminants, thereby giving damaged tissue and bones the time they need to fully heal by sending immune cells to protect that area.
However, inflammation on its own is not universal, and there are actually two main types to be aware of:
1. Acute inflammation
Acute inflammation refers to the body’s short-term biological response we mentioned above, which is designed to help you recover from injuries or fight bacterial and viral infections.
Naturally, this means that if you’re an athlete or regularly partake in strenuous exercise, acute inflammation is likely something you are familiar with and have experienced many times before – being the aches you often associate with having had a good workout the previous day when you wake up.
2. Chronic inflammation
Unlike acute inflammation, chronic inflammation is where the immune system is overstimulated, continuing to send inflammatory signals to your cells, even when such a response is no longer needed.
More often than not, inflammation like this is related to various chronic conditions that the body may develop over time, such as diabetes, arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune disorders, and may require specialist medication and treatments to manage.
How does ice reduce inflammation when bathing?
So, we know what inflammation is, and the different types you might come across, but what happens to our body’s immune response and inflammation processes when exposed to colder temperatures – such as an extended soak in an ice bath?
Well, when your body is exposed to cold temperatures, your blood vessels naturally constrict, reducing blood flow to your muscles, which in turn minimises the volume of immune cells that can reach these areas.
As a result, the level of inflammation your body experiences will be reduced, minimising muscular swelling and nullifying the sorts of aches and pain that usually come as a by-product of the inflammation process.
Does ice reduce inflammation entirely?
No, while cold exposure will reduce inflammation to varying degrees (depending on how low the temperature is), it will not prevent inflammation entirely. This is a good thing, however, as inflammation still forms an important part of the body’s healing and recovery process and should not be prevented from occurring at all.
Is it healthy to reduce inflammation after exercise?
Although it can be nice not to have to wake up the day after an intense workout without sore muscles, given that inflammation is a core part of the body’s recovery and repair system, it’s work asking whether or not reducing inflammation is actually beneficial for the body overall.
And, if we’re being honest, the evidence available seems to indicate that it’s the intensity and regularity of such cold exposure that appears to be the determining factor in whether or not such levels of inflammation reduction are healthy.
On the one hand, there’s plenty of information out there that clearly shows cold therapy to be beneficial for athletic recovery in the short term. Indeed, many athletes swear by the impact of cold plunges on their post-game recovery, particularly when they’re involved in multi-game stints or competitions over the course of a small period of time.
However, there are also studies out there that indicate that excessive cold exposure at extremely low temperatures can negatively impact muscle repair and recovery by overly constricting the levels of inflammation in your body and lowering its impact below safe levels.
In other words – it really depends on the situation – but the vast majority of studies agree that regular exposure to ice baths at a reasonable temperature will not have any adverse impact on your body’s inflammation process, and that the benefits cold exposure can provide for muscle and cardiovascular health far outweigh any potential risks.
Does ice help with inflammation on a chronic level?
Given that a degree of ice and cold exposure can help with reducing acute inflammation, it stands to reason that cold plunges can also aid in managing the health impacts associated with chronic inflammation.
Despite not promising a cure for inflammatory-related conditions, such as arthritis, ice baths have been show to provide temporary pain relief and a reduction in swelling, making the impact of such diseases that much easier to handle, and many sufferers of chronic inflammation advocate taking regular ice baths because of this.
How else can you manage chronic inflammation?
While an ice bath for arthritis can certainly help with managing the pain associated with chronic inflammation, it’s not a permanent solution to such problems.
Unfortunately, in many cases, it may not actually be possible to eliminate chronic inflammation, but there are several additional things you can try alongside cold therapy to reduce the impact, such as:
- Diet and lifestyle changes – many foods have anti-inflammatory properties, which can be beneficial for managing inflammation. These foods include oily fish, leafy greens, olive oil and nuts, and when combined with regular and reasonable levels of exercise, can go a long way to reducing inflammation levels in the body.
- Supplements – some vitamins and supplements can help to reduce inflammation to a degree, including vitamins A, C, and D, as well as zinc. However, they should not be solely relied on to reduce inflammation and instead should be used in conjunction with exercise and diet changes.
- Anti-inflammatory medications – should your chronic inflammation not be serious enough to warrant prescribed medication, there are various over-the-counter medications which can be used to lower inflammation instead, including ibuprofen and aspirin, which can again be used alongside other inflammatory control measures to manage its impact.
Try cold water plunging with Chill Tubs
While the topic of cold exposure and inflammation reduction is still something that continues to be researched within the scientific community, there is lots of evidence to suggest it can be beneficial for many individuals.
However, if want to be on the safe side, then we recommend not taking an ice bath after every workout and instead staggering them over the course of the week – after all, as the saying goes, no pain no gain!
And, naturally, if you’re interested in starting your cold plunge journey, then you should head over to the Chill Tubs ice bath range to see what cold plunge options we have on offer.
Whether you want a professional ice tub or a beginner’s ice bath, we have something for all cold therapy users in our collection. Get in touch today to find out more and don’t forget to visit our blog for more helpful articles like this one.
Ice bath inflammation FAQs
Still got some questions around ice baths and how they help with inflammation? Take a look at our FAQs below or get in touch with our expert team today to see if we can help:
How long should I soak in cold water to reduce inflammation?
To avoid extended exposure to cold temperatures, especially as a beginner, we recommend keeping your cold plunges to between 5 and 10 minutes at a time, increasing this window as you become more comfortable with the practice. It’s also not recommended that you exceed any more than 15 minutes of cold water immersion.
