# Cold water dousing, any scientific evidence of health benefit?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 10, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769 "2016-04-10T02:37:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![G.A.Pster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce7236/32.png) [@G.A.Pster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.A.Pster)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/1 "2016-04-10T02:37:42Z")

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> **[Dousing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dousing)**
>
> Dousing is the practice of making something or someone wet by throwing liquid over them, e.g., by pouring\[citation needed\] water, generally cold, over oneself. A related practice is ice swimming. Some consider cold water dousing to be a form of asceticism.
> Cold water dousing is used to "shock" the body into a kind of fever. The body's reaction is similar to the mammalian diving reflex or possibly temperature biofeedback. Several meditative and awareness techniques seem to share similar effects w...

In a nutshell it’s the act of pouring cold water on yourself, in an attempt to gain improved health.

I think it’s most practiced in Russia (which is neither here nor there, just interesting considering it’s so cold for much of the year :eek:)

Is there any scientific evidence that it does anything beneficial?  
Also are there any cases of it causing a heart attack or stroke?

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**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/2 "2016-04-10T02:46:50Z")

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I’ve got nothing on just cold-water dousing, but I am a big fan of [contrast bathing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_bath_therapy). Sources cite all sorts of benefits, but really it just feels awesome if you can get past the first 2 cycles.

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**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/3 "2016-04-10T08:18:17Z")

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> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> I’ve got nothing on just cold-water dousing, but I am a big fan of [contrast bathing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_bath_therapy). Sources cite all sorts of benefits, but really it just feels awesome if you can get past the first 2 cycles.

That seems like just the backwards from the usual. Soaking in hot water followed by a rapid plunge into icy cold water has been fashionable forever, it seems. (I suppose it’s healthful in the sense of "Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. :rolleyes: ) Soaking in cold water followed by hot water (“contrast bathing” as described in that Wiki) is something I hadn’t heard of before.

If the idea is to do lymph cleansing, then there’s also [lymphatic massage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_lymphatic_drainage) which, from descriptions I’ve heard (from people who had just gotten one), basically wrings you out like a washrag. And they say that feels _good!_ :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/4 "2016-04-10T15:55:03Z")

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_“Dear Mr. Poxham, would you kindly excuse Steven from  
Games today? He has had a nasty cold over the weekend and  
Still has headaches and feels a bit snotty. I don’t feel  
He should be outside with the rougher type of boy, as he  
Is a little delicate. Hoping you will understand, yours  
Sincerely, Nellie Maynard, Mrs.”_

**"Give him a nice cold shower."**

- Bonzo Dog Band (“Sport”)

Bathing in icy cold water might make you feel like you’re tough, but proven health benefits are in the neighborhood of zero.

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**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/5 "2016-04-10T23:56:08Z")

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There may be some benefit to athletes, but note they aren’t pouring it on themselves, they are soaking in it for 10 to 15 minutes and they do it immediately after exercise. It’s not very clear if it is beneficial. If you’re a couch-potato and you pour cold water on yourself I doubt it will have any health benefits.

Sports Med. 2013 Nov;43(11):1101-30. doi: 10.1007/s40279-013-0063-8.  
Water immersion recovery for athletes: effect on exercise performance and practical recommendations.  
Versey NG1, Halson SL, Dawson BT.  
Author information  
Abstract  
Water immersion is increasingly being used by elite athletes seeking to minimize fatigue and accelerate post-exercise recovery. Accelerated short-term (hours to days) recovery may improve competition performance, allow greater training loads or enhance the effect of a given training load. However, the optimal water immersion protocols to assist short-term recovery of performance still remain unclear. This article will review the water immersion recovery protocols investigated in the literature, their effects on performance recovery, briefly outline the potential mechanisms involved and provide practical recommendations for their use by athletes. For the purposes of this review, water immersion has been divided into four techniques according to water temperature: cold water immersion (CWI; ≤20 °C), hot water immersion (HWI; ≥36 °C), contrast water therapy (CWT; alternating CWI and HWI) and thermoneutral water immersion (TWI; \>20 to \<36 °C). Numerous articles have reported that CWI can enhance recovery of performance in a variety of sports, with immersion in 10-15 °C water for 5-15 min duration appearing to be most effective at accelerating performance recovery. However, the optimal CWI duration may depend on the water temperature, and the time between CWI and the subsequent exercise bout appears to influence the effect on performance. The few studies examining the effect of post-exercise HWI on subsequent performance have reported conflicting findings; therefore the effect of HWI on performance recovery is unclear. CWT is most likely to enhance performance recovery when equal time is spent in hot and cold water, individual immersion durations are short (~1 min) and the total immersion duration is up to approximately 15 min. A dose-response relationship between CWT duration and recovery of exercise performance is unlikely to exist. Some articles that have reported CWT to not enhance performance recovery have had methodological issues, such as failing to detect a decrease in performance in control trials, not performing full-body immersion, or using hot showers instead of pools. TWI has been investigated as both a control to determine the effect of water temperature on performance recovery, and as an intervention itself. However, due to conflicting findings it is uncertain whether TWI improves recovery of subsequent exercise performance. Both CWI and CWT appear likely to assist recovery of exercise performance more than HWI and TWI; however, it is unclear which technique is most effective. While the literature on the use of water immersion for recovery of exercise performance is increasing, further research is required to obtain a more complete understanding of the effects on performance.  
PMID: 23743793 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/6 "2016-04-11T01:31:08Z")

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> [@G.A.Pster](#):
>
> Is there any scientific evidence that it does anything beneficial?

Yes.

> **[Possible use of repeated cold stress for reducing fatigue in chronic fatigue...](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2164952/)**
>
> Physiological fatigue can be defined as a reduction in the force output and/or energy-generating capacity of skeletal muscle after exertion, which may manifest itself as an inability to continue exercise or usual activities at the same intensity. A...

> **[Effect of hydrotherapy on recovery from fatigue - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18058595/)**
>
> The present study investigated the effects of three hydrotherapy interventions on next day performance recovery following strenuous training. Twelve cyclists completed four experimental trials differing only in 14-min recovery intervention: cold...

> **[Brown Fat: Don't Try To Burn It](https://www.npr.org/2009/04/10/102964807/brown-fat-dont-try-to-burn-it)**
>
> Not all fat is created equal, according to several new studies. Researchers found that "brown fat," typically found in babies, is present in adults and has impressive calorie-burning powers. C. Ronald Kahn, of the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard...

[http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10671188.1968.10616598](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10671188.1968.10616598)

> **[Scientific Evidence-Based Effects of Hydrotherapy on Various Systems of the Body](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4049052/)**
>
> The use of water for various treatments (hydrotherapy) is probably as old as mankind. Hydrotherapy is one of the basic methods of treatment widely used in the system of natural medicine, which is also called as water therapy, aquatic therapy, pool...

> **[The cooling-suit: case studies of its influence on fatigue among eight...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11879418/)**
>
> The result indicates that use of a cooling-suit by individuals with MS may decrease their sense of fatigue. In this sample positive outcomes on daily life situations were reported. Further studies are needed to support these results.

> **[Uric acid and glutathione levels during short-term whole body cold exposure](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0891584994900302)**
>
> Ten healthy subjects who swim regularly in ice-cold water during the winter (winter swimming), were evaluated before and after this short-term whole b…

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**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2016, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cold-water-dousing-any-scientific-evidence-of-health-benefit/751769/7 "2016-04-11T02:46:44Z")

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> **[16 Benefits Of Cold Showers That Will Blow Your Mind](http://menprovement.com/benefits-of-cold-showers/)**
>
> Cold showers are extremely powerful. In this article you'll not only learn the 16 benefits of cold showers, but how to actually grow the balls to take them!

I will take a hot shower and finish off with a cold one , it’s good for your hair and skin like it said in this link. It can’t hurt you.