When I first heard about ice bathing on social media, I thought it was a masochistic idea: an activity made either for those with immense cold tolerance or people who risk their health on purpose for views and to prove their toughness. However, when I heard positive reviews from my friends’ who plunge in ice water after working out, I realized that this wasn’t necessarily the case.
In the case of short, 5- to 10-minute sessions, ice baths actually bring about numerous benefits — some within just a few seconds.
According to Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, ice baths can decrease negative emotions such as anger, depression and fatigue, boost positive mood factors like vigor and self-esteem and lower stress.
In many professional sports, athletes use ice baths as a way to heal sore muscles. Famous NBA players like LeBron James and swimmers like Michael Phelps are a few examples of regular ice bathers.
Additionally, according to the Mayo Clinic, cold-water immersion also reduces the damage of muscles caused by exercise, reducing inflammation and soreness as a result of a rapid constriction of blood vessels. This aids the athletes’ recovery process, allowing them to perform better afterwards.
However, these athletes were no exception to the first-time anxiety of plunging into freezing-cold water.
Junior Jacob Gechlik, a member of the varsity cross country team, mentioned that after some intense practices and more commonly on hotter days, his teammates would immerse their lower bodies in ice cold water for around five minutes.
“I was a little nervous, because I didn’t know how cold it was going to be. Since all my friends were doing it as well, it kind of quelled my nervousness, so I hopped in,” Gechlik said.
Gechlik only took two minutes to overcome the feeling of biting cold, after which he remembers it felt only a little uncomfortable. Finally, after another minute of soaking, Gechlik began to feel refreshed from the chill.
As a volleyball player and athlete myself, I’d found inspiration to try out an ice bath for the first time recently. Submerging myself into the water, I initially felt a cold and numbing sensation. But to my surprise, my body felt warm just after a minute or so.
After the five minute session, my mind felt unusually clear and refreshed, though I did not notice many physical benefits I assumed would come afterwards.
The only drawbacks of ice bathing are that, over a prolonged duration, hypothermia becomes a risk. If the water is too cold, such as that in a frozen lake, the possibility of frostbite is also a danger. Nevertheless, such a risk can be easily avoided by monitoring the duration of the bath.
For athletes thinking about trying an ice bath, I would recommend just filling a tub with water and ice and going straight into it, because the more you dwell on the coldness of the water, you will increasingly be inclined to avoid it The experience was better than expected and I am looking forward to trying it again.
