What happens in the body during an ice bath?

What are cold baths and ice baths?

Cold bath and ice bath are actually the same thing, but with different names. Cold bath refers to bathing in very cold water, such as the ocean in the fall, and ice bath refers to bathing in icy water, such as a lake in the winter.

Why cold baths?

...and what happens to the body when it is exposed to cold water?

If you're new to cold water, it may seem strange that you would voluntarily jump into near-zero-degree water, but there are actually many scientifically proven health benefits to doing so. These are just a few of them...

Better and stronger immune system

Exposing your body to cold water can increase the body's production of white blood cells, blood cells that in turn function as the body's defense cells.

In addition, you also get your body used to different types of temperatures and environments, such as extreme cold, which forces it to adapt and become stronger.

Improved sleep

Cold baths lower the body's temperature, which is similar to the natural temperature drop that occurs before falling asleep.

Lowering your body temperature before bed can also help create a circadian rhythm that suits you and help you sleep better. This in turn improves other aspects such as increasing your energy the next day and your overall quality of life.

Better at coping with cold temperatures

The human body always tries to adapt in the best way possible to the environment it finds itself in in order to have the best chance of surviving there.

This means that the more cold baths you take, the more you communicate to your body that extreme cold is a recurring part of life, which means that the body must somehow stay warm. It does this by creating so-called brown fat.

Brown fat, or brown fat cells, is a type of fat that is activated when the body needs to warm up. The brown fat then uses regular fat, or white fat as it is also called, and uses it to heat the body.

Taking cold baths can therefore also help with weight loss for those who need it.

Faster recovery from cold baths

Taking an ice bath can help you recover after exercise in a good way, as what happens in the body at the cold temperatures causes blood vessels to constrict, which in turn makes it more difficult for inflammatory substances to travel through the body via the blood.

Cold baths and cold have a good tendency to strengthen and improve one's mental strength and raise one's threshold for pain.

Tips for safe cold baths

And what risks are there?

Jumping into a lake or a bathtub with near-zero-degree water can be dangerous if not done correctly. Here is a list of what you should do when taking a cold bath:

Always be sober when taking a cold bath. Taking a bath while under the influence, even at a lukewarm temperature, involves risks to your life and health that are never worth it.
Take it gradually. To get the effects of cold water, you don't have to have almost zero degrees every time, according to research. The main thing is that it feels cold to the bather. Over time, you can gradually lower the temperature, as long as you know you can handle the water you're going into.
If you have underlying health problems , it is very important to talk to a doctor before starting a cold bath. Cold baths can be a shock to the system and, for example, lead to a heart attack, even in relatively young and healthy people, if you are not careful.
If you are new to cold water, it might be a good idea to start by taking a cold shower. It is easier to step away from the shower than to step out of an ice bath if the water turns out to be too cold. If you have never bathed in very cold water before, it is very difficult to know what is happening to your body.
Cold bathe with someone , or at least take someone with you if you are going to bathe in a frozen lake and you are not experienced. If you do not know how you will react (and it is shocking to your body and to you to go into a frozen lake), it is important to take someone with you in case something serious happens.
Don't stay in too long. You probably won't last that long anyway (very few people do), but don't stay in it longer than is safe and secure. You can get hurt in water that cold if you're not careful.

How should you take a cold bath?

Jumping into an ice bath has many different positive and beneficial effects on the body, both long-term and short-term. However, it is important to know what you are doing to achieve these positive effects.

Go in slowly

To start with, it's best to go into the cold water slowly. We don't recommend jumping in (whether it's a lake or the ocean we're talking about). Cold water can have an incredibly shocking effect on the body and if you can't handle it, you'll likely have a negative experience.

It can be more painful to take it easy, but it's important not to lose control of what's happening in your body.

Take control of your breathing

It's easy to lose control of your breathing when you step into the icy water, and that's okay to start with, and hard to avoid in your first few dips. However, it should decrease over time, the more regularly you go into ice baths. As with anything, you get better at it the more you do it and practice.

Don't hyperventilate in the water

You need to control your breathing, but you don't want to hyperventilate in the water. When you hyperventilate you can lose consciousness which can lead to drowning accidents, and especially in such cold water it can lead to other horrible things even if you don't drown, such as frostbite and the like.

We make this point because many people who take cold baths use the Wim Hof method and it may happen that you start to hyperventilate in the water for increased effect, but it can be life-threatening, so practice that breathing before you go into the water and you should be fine.

What temperature should a bath be?

You can aim to have between 1 and 15 degrees in the water you bathe in. As a rule of thumb, it's good to keep in mind that you can be in the water for about as many minutes as it is cold in degrees, so if it is 1 degree, you bathe for 1 minute, 2 degrees for 2 minutes, etc.

It's also good to remember that you can vary and experiment with this. Ice baths are a highly personal thing, how well you can handle them and what suits you best.

Portable cold baths

Swedish cold portable cold bath

Why portable cold baths?

Making cold baths a part of your everyday life can have many benefits, as previously mentioned, but since many people live out of reach of lakes or may not even have a bathtub at home, it can be very difficult to integrate ice baths into your life and make it the habit you want, and you won't be able to jump into the cold as many times as you want as easily.

Cold bath at home

Having a portable cold bath at home (which also doesn't take up much space) increases the possibilities of easily taking a cold bath every day, whether you take a bath first thing in the morning, after a workout, or before going to bed. The choice is yours, of course.

Having a portable ice bath at home has the effect of increasing the power you have over your own health, over your own body, and you can feel better for longer during the day.

What portable cold baths are there?

At Swedish Cold, there are several selections of different cold baths, in all different price ranges. Everything from simple tubs that you can easily assemble yourself and transport without any problems (perfect for beginners), to more advanced, self-propelled ice baths.

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