A new study has thoroughly analyzed the benefits of taking ice-cold showers. There are some, but only for a few people and the study explains it well
Many productivity gurus (led by one of the most famous, Amadeo Lladós) claim that there are ways to become a millionaire by changing everyday habits. There are several routines that they encourage people to change but they focus especially on what we do in the early hours of the day and there is a special fixation on getting up very early and taking cold showers (or even getting into an ice-cold bath).
Of course, then they don’t say how changing habits is going to generate a lot of money and that’s where the problem with these types of people comes from, but that’s another story. Now let’s focus on productivity.
In recent years, many productivity and wellness gurus have been talking about the idea of taking cold showers first thing in the morning, arguing that it helps reduce stress, decrease muscle inflammation and strengthen the immune system.
You have probably seen people on social media showing their routines and sometimes this involves taking a cold shower or getting into an ice-cold bathtub. In fact, there are ice baths or tubs specifically designed for that purpose.
A widely promoted trend
However, studies have cast doubt on these claims, revealing that the practice may be less effective than previously thought, especially for people who are not elite athletes. Cold showers or dips in cold water have become a trend widely promoted by renowned athletes such as LeBron James and celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow. Social media has further fueled this trend.
Recently, researchers at the University of South Australia conducted a meta-analysis of 11 studies on cold water immersion. They did identify small benefits, but concluded that the evidence is limited to high-performance athletes, with no proven effects for the general population.
It is worth mentioning here that from Google’s AI (which itself warns that the data generated is experimental) the first piece of information it provides if you search for cold showers and productivity “can potentially increase productivity by increasing alertness, concentration and energy levels due to the physiological response to cold water triggering the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine”. And this appears as the first result, which shows once again that the responses given by certain AIs should be taken with a pinch of salt.
What happens with stress
On the one hand, this extensive study concludes that immersion in cold water can actually reduce stress, but only for a short period of time, approximately 12 hours. Stress can be one of the main saboteurs of productivity, as many other studies have shown. A very tired person does not perform as well as someone who is well, and people are more efficient when they are more rested.
A study by the University of Brasilia stated some time ago that stressful events “can alter the brain structures involved in encoding, storing and retrieving memory”. The study reviewed experimental research that evaluates the impact of the stress-related hormone cortisol on long-term memory retrieval.
Stress triggers the release of cortisol, a hormone that prepares our body for the “fight or flight” response. In small amounts, cortisol can be beneficial, helping us stay alert and focused. However, when cortisol levels remain elevated for long periods of time, they can have a detrimental impact on our health and productivity. In this study we see that if a person is very stressed, a cold shower will only help to relieve that stress for a very short period of time.
As for getting up early, which usually comes as part of the productivity ritual of the ‘gurus’ of the subject, there were already studies showing that this is not an absolute truth. For some people it is very beneficial (I have shared my personal experience), but not everyone is the same. And there is something very important: it is not enough to get up early, or not, the key is to get enough sleep, so people who decide to get up very early should do the same when it comes to going to bed.
In addition, you need to know what chronotypes are. Each person has a unique chronotype, a biological clock with unique characteristics, and this is a subject we have already seen.
Certain benefits
Regarding strengthening the immune system, the study found a 29% reduction in sick days among those who took regular cold showers. However, this change was not accompanied by significant improvements in immune response.
Regarding sleep quality, some participants claimed to feel better after cold showers, but the effects disappeared after three months, leading to the conclusion that there is no lasting benefit. As for reducing muscle inflammation, these researchers have found that cold showers can increase inflammation immediately after exposure to the cold, an effect that may be positive for elite athletes but potentially harmful for people with certain conditions.
In short, if you are a professional athlete, perhaps exposure to cold weather can be of some use to you in your recovery after a major competition or training session. “But for the rest of the population, science has found no convincing evidence that cold showers provide significant health or productivity benefits,” the report states.
