Do cold showers help to recover from fatigue?

 Studies have shown that cold showers are one of the most efective ways to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness, perceived fatigue, muscle damage and inflammation after physical exercise.

Its efect is similar to active recovery, a massage and compression garments.

Cold therapy: It uses exposure to cold temperatures to cool the body's tissues for therapeutic reasons. There are some ways to apply it:

  • Cold Shower: It involves lowering the temperature of the shower as less as possible and stay under the cold water from 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Cold Spray: Cold spray is used to numb a small area.
  • Cold Water Immersion or Ice Baths: Or submerging everything but your head and neck in cold water.
  • Localized Ice Application: It is used to treat injuries or specific muscle groups.
  • Whole-Body Cryotherapy: Which exposes the body to very cold vapors.

Taking cold showers may:

  1. Bolster your immunity to common colds: Going from a hot to a cold shower might protect you from circulating viruses. The cold shower stimulates the blood cells that fight off infection.
  2. Combat symptoms of depression: In one clynical study, participants who took cold showers for several months reported decreassed depresion symptoms. Aditional research suggests that cold water may boost your mod and decrease anxiety.
  3. Improve circulation: Cold water strains your body, it activates the "survival mode" , working hard to maintain core temperature. This stimulates your body to increase blood flow circulation. Increasing circulation redistributes blood and delivers freshly oxygenated blood to areas that need to recover. It decreases the time it takes your muscles to recover after exercise.
  4. Increase metabolism: Your body expends energy to stay warm in a cold shower. This results in a small amount of calorie burn and increased metabolism.
  5. Reduce inflammation and prevent muscle soreness: Cold temps make your body vessels tighten up. Then, your blood moves to body's core and vital organs. The blood becomes oxygen and nutrient rich during the process. As your body heats up again, the blood vessels expand, bringing that oxygenated blood to your tissues. It helps to flush out inflammation, a cause of delayed-onset muscle soreness.
  6. Relieve localized pain: Cold therapy alliviates pain by reducing inflammation. It also interferes with your brains perception of pain. This happens because cold therapy dulls the nerve transmission sent to your brain.

Links:

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a27357719/benefits-of-cold-showers/

https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/cold-showers-health-benefits-1234889141/

https://www.uclahealth.org/news/6-cold-shower-benefits-consider

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