How Cold Water Therapy Can Help Reduce Anxiety

Maintaining good mental health can be challenging in a world teeming with continuous pressures and demands. Day-to-day stress and the constant flurry of worries take a toll on our overall well-being, leading to long-term conditions such as anxiety. Today, anxiety is far from an uncommon condition, with millions grappling with symptoms globally.

Traditionally, management strategies for anxiety have been confined to psychological therapy and pharmacological interventions. While proven to be effective, they aren’t a solution for everyone. Recently, there has been a growing need for natural ways to reduce stress and anxiety that are cost-effective, low-risk, and easily accessible compared to medications. 

Enter cold water therapy. This technique has been making a splash as an alternative tool for reducing anxiety. By tapping into the body’s natural reactions to cold water immersion, it offers natural ways to cope with anxiety without the cost or side effects of medication. It opens a refreshing new channel for mental self-care and wellness routines. This cold water therapy anxiety technique can become a key tool in our mental health toolkit.

What is Cold Water Therapy?

History

Cold water therapy, also known as hydrotherapy or cold exposure therapy, involves intentionally using cold water to achieve health benefits. Despite its popularity within sports and fitness circles, it isn’t a new trend or fad. The therapeutic application of cold water has been a universal feature of human healing practices for thousands of years.

The origins of cold water immersion therapy can be traced back to Eastern traditions, including Zen Buddhism and Shinto. A method called “Misogi” invites individuals to cleanse their bodies and spirits with cold water. In Western society, the ancient Spartans recognized the benefits of a cold plunge and routinely bathed in cold water to fortify their constitution.

Benefits

The benefits of cold water therapy encompass a broad range of health and wellness aspects. From improving mood to reducing inflammation to fortifying heart health, an ice bath can positively impact many aspects of the body.

Immune system support

Studies suggest consistent cold exposure can raise white blood cell numbers. White blood cells are known to help fight infections and other diseases by attacking unknown organisms in the body. Many believe that by adding cold exposure to a regular health and wellness routine keeps white blood cell count high and, therefore, increases the body’s ability to fend off illnesses. 

Cardiovascular benefits

The body often reacts similarly to cold water immersion and mild exercise. For example, heart rate elevates, blood vessels constrict, and blood pressure rises. While in cold water, oxygenated blood is pushed to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and lungs. Like exercise, consistent cold water therapy can lower blood pressure and improve blood circulation, fortifying heart health and overall wellness.

Inflammation and Sore Muscles

When working out, the muscles being used are naturally damaged in order to build strength over time. As they heal, inflammation builds. Many times this causes immediate soreness and aches, but often the pain is felt later thanks to delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Studies have shown that ice bath benefits include reducing inflammation and pain in muscles, as well as preventing DOMS after an intense workout.  This is one of the many reasons why fitness professionals and athletes swear by cold water immersion therapy for muscle repair and recovery.

Increased Discipline

Taking a dip in ice-cold water requires mental preparation and determination. By setting your mind to regularly taking an ice bath or cold shower, you are building discipline. As time goes on, it will become easier and easier to mentally prepare yourself to enter the cold tub. This discipline will transfer to other areas of your life outside of health and wellness, making it easier to fortify yourself and mentally prepare for future situations. 

Sleep Quality

Cold water therapy lowers your body temperature, a signal to your body that it is time to go to sleep. As a response, the body begins producing the sleep hormone melatonin. While a cold bath can make you feel more energetic in the short term, you’ll likely feel relaxed, calm, and peaceful afterward. By aligning your ice plunge with your desired sleep schedule, you’ll see improvements in sleep quality.

Reducing Anxiety with Cold Water Therapy

How Can Cold Water Therapy Help with Anxiety?

Cold water therapy’s role in effective anxiety relief begins with how it influences our body’s physiological responses. Cold water activates biological responses to protect us from the cold, causing our bodies to go into fight-or-flight mode. 

Research shows that cold water immersion activates the body’s stress response mechanisms, producing hormones such as norepinephrine. However, after this initial reaction, the parasympathetic nervous system activates. A combination of feel-good hormones enters the body, and hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are reduced. This lifts mood and reduces anxiety.

Another aspect of cold water therapy is its effect on Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Immersing the body in cold water causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Repeated exposure to cold water trains the body to adapt quickly to stress responses, increasing HRV. According to the Cleveland Clinic, people with a high HRV tend to be less stressed and anxious.

By practicing cold water immersion regularly, bodies adapt, making you more resilient to stressors in all aspects of life.

Studies Supporting Cold Water Therapy’s Effectiveness Against Anxiety

The benefits of cold water therapy are more than merely theoretical. Several studies lend evidence to its effectiveness in improving mood, reducing stress, and calming anxieties.

A 2023 study notes participants “feeling more inspired, active, attentive, and proud, whilst the decreasing negative effect reflected feeling less nervous and distressed” after cold water immersion. Moreover, this same group said that they felt fewer symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression.

In 2022, a study featuring outdoor swimmers showed reduced depressive symptoms in 59% of participants after exposure to cold water swimming. A separate study found cold water immersion reduces stress without participants being physically active. This study concluded that “cold [water] in and of itself can improve mood.”

Cold Water Therapy in Holistic Anxiety Management

Integrating Cold Water Therapy with Other Anxiety Reduction Techniques

Combining cold water therapy with other holistic anxiety management techniques can help create a well-rounded practice of self-care and mental health benefits. 

• Yoga: The relaxing practice of yoga can pair with cold water therapy in a number of beneficial ways. Taking an ice bath after a yoga class can help soothe any sore muscles. However, practicing yoga after your bath may offer even more benefits. For example, some light yoga or exercise is recommended after a bath to help gradually raise your body temperature back to normal. What’s more, your clear and worry-free mindset will continue from your bath into your yoga practice, helping to keep any anxiety at bay.
• Meditation: Many find that incorporating meditation into their ice baths and cold plunges helps clear the mind and calm the body after the initial cold shock to the senses. Like building discipline, this trains the mind to stay calm in potentially stressful situations, combating anxiety symptoms.
• Workout: Exercise is an excellent tool for a holistic approach to anxiety relief. Like cold water baths, it releases endorphins that help to lift your mood and reduce stress. This, combined with the muscle repair and stress-relieving benefits of a cold plunge, makes exercise and cold water therapy a perfect combination for battling anxiety.
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT): A form of psychological treatment used to treat symptoms of depression and anxiety through changes in thinking patterns. The cognitive restructuring and behavioral strategies of CBT combined with the positive mental effects of cold water therapy could help create a well-rounded, effective strategy for managing anxiety. Always speak to your mental health provider before beginning a new therapy method.

Using Cold Water Therapy

Cold water therapy can be as simple as taking a cold shower or as intense as dipping into an ice bath. It does not require a significant overhaul of your daily routine and is easily adaptable for many lifestyles. 

Two popular methods are cold shower therapy and ice bath therapy. Both are easy to achieve at home without special equipment, though ice bath barrels and tubs are available. Beginners should start slow. Simply lower the water temperature during your shower or fill your tub with ice and cold water and spend a few seconds immersed. Duration and intensity can then be increased gradually over time.

Persistence is essential in acclimating to the initial discomfort and reaping the long-term benefits. Track your progress, adjust the intensity, and frequency as per your comfort. Even a  weekly session of cold plunge therapy can be beneficial when consistently practiced.

Safety is crucial when beginning cold exposure. Listen to your body and speak to your medical provider before beginning cold water immersion. When starting a new mental health practice, seek guidance as needed and talk to a mental health professional. Follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and beneficial cold water therapy experience. 

A Natural Approach to Reducing Anxiety

Anxiety affects a considerable portion of the global population, and the search for innovative, accessible, and effective stress relief techniques is more critical than ever. Traditional anxiety treatment methods, such as pharmacological interventions and psychotherapy, are important, but can be inaccessible, costly, or unsuitable for some individuals. Luckily, holistic methods such as cold water therapy offer physical and mental benefits to help relieve anxiety.

Through its impacts on the body’s stress responses, cold water immersion therapy opens new avenues for natural anxiety reduction. Whether it’s cold shower therapy in your home or a full-blown cold water plunge in a natural body of water, this therapy provides a refreshing counterpoint to medication-heavy strategies. They tap into a natural calming effect that can ultimately help better mental wellness.

Additionally, the accessibility of cold water therapies, especially when compared to some standard treatments, stands out. Cold shower benefits go beyond anxiety management. When added to a general wellness regimen, cold water benefits many areas of the body physically and mentally. Cold water therapy holds the potential to be an effective, natural, and approachable method to curb anxiety while promoting robust health.