Ice bath

In sports therapy, an ice bath, or sometimes cold-water immersion or cold therapy, is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise in which a substantial part of a human body is immersed in a bath of ice or ice-water for a limited duration.

While it is becoming increasingly popular and accepted among athletes in a variety of sports, the method is controversial, with a risk of hypothermia, with the possibility of shock leading to sudden death. Many athletes have used cold water immersion after an intense exercise workout in the belief that it speeds up bodily recovery; however, the internal physical processes are not well understood and remain elusive. Evidence supporting cold water immersion as part of an athletic training has been mixed, with some studies suggesting a mild benefit such as reducing muscle damage and discomfort and alleviating delayed onset muscle soreness, with other studies suggesting that cold water immersion may slow muscle growth and interfere with an overall training regimen.

A 2024 meta-analysis of controlled trials concluded that cold water immersion immediately following resistance training may blunt the ensuing muscle hypertrophy, although the authors cautioned that their conclusion was uncertain due to the relatively fair to poor quality of the underlying studies.

Ice baths exist as a practice outside the sports and exercise world as well. They have earlier roots of being used to combat extreme heat exposure in certain cultures. For instance, the Maya of Yucatan utilised the practice of “ice baths [and] ice-water baths” as a “treatment of heatstroke” This population categorizes the objects and processes in their lives that are related to health as “hot” and “cold" types and are always trying to balance the two. In this context, the necessity and statistics of ice bathing are no longer relevant, as the practise is rather a “behavioural adaptation” for these peoples.^unclear

Despite the physical benefits of ice baths being seen as not worth the risks, there are many who believe that the practice is incredibly beneficial to one's mental health. “It shocks your body and forces you to go into fight or flight mode,” says an individual who took up the practice as a mechanism to cope with his depression. He believes that ice bathing has been a saviour of his life and has not experienced any negative risks associated with the practise. Thus, ice bathing is indeed not a necessity, yet can have extreme positive impacts on some and must not be overlooked as a mechanism for improving one's mental health.^neutrality?