What are the benefits?

Never done an ice bath but interested? Do you hate the heat? Always looking for different ways to socialize?

Then the Xiaoliuqiu Ice Bath Social Club might be something you would be interested in doing if you live on Xiaoliuqiu or coming here for a visit especially if you are a weekend warrior and feeling the after effects of being in the sun all day and being more active physically than you are used to like a weekend warrior. 

I also include ice baths as an add-on service for my freedive course as a freedive course can be quite physically demanding for the unaccustomed and quick recovery is important.

Check out this ice bath video on YouTube I shot recently with one of my students trying to cure her hangover.

How do cold baths reduce inflammation and pain? (RECOVERY)

An underappreciated aspect of improving as an athlete, whether you are a professional or a weekend warrior, is recovery. Recovery is where you make your “gains”. Quick recovery ensures that you can continue your training the next day. 

There are many methods of recovery including stretching, massage (try out Stretchology Asia) and compression gear but ice baths are one of the most powerful methods in stamping out inflammation and delayed-onset muscle pain.

When you immerse yourself in ice cold water, your blood vessels constrict and when you get out they dilate which helps flush away metabolic waste post-workout especially from lymph nodes. This increases your blood flow floods cells with essential nutrients that will give the body an edge to recover faster. 

The ice bath also reduces your core body temperature, which has an anti-inflammatory effect.

Cold baths help you relax and sleep better

"More than 80% of athletes taking ice baths report improved mental state and far better sleep patterns." from isportcool.com

A clinical study showed that cold immersion can lower the stress hormone cortisol by 25-34% helping you to relax and decrease your stress levels; and with this you will sleep better.

A good night's sleep is also vitally important to recover from a workout. And with a good recovery, you can have a better workout in subsequent days improving your gains and preventing over-training, something we hear a lot about in freediving.

A 1 hour soak in a 14 degree C bath also increases dopamine by 250%. Dopamine is hormone and a neurotransmitter and known as the "feel good hormone". Not only do you feel great after a cold soak but also dopamine is an important hormone for sleep regulation.

Cold exposure also helps stimulate the vagus nerve which is responsible for your parasympathetic response.

QUELLS PAIN

This is what drove me to try ice baths in the first place. Around 2015 I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It's really hard to describe to what it feels like exactly, but it feels like you are about to have a cold, everyday, all the time. My body is aching pain all over all the time, especially in the morning. And on top of that, low energy level and bad sleep. 

Regular ice baths made this condition bearable and manageable.

I also have a terrible gluten intolerance. When I have been glutenized it is just awful pain. It's like the worst hangover is the best way I could describe it. I have tried all kinds of pain killers, natural and pharmaceutical. If I listed it out it would be close to 20 things I have tried for pain and nothing relieved that pain quite like an ice bath.

I know this is only anecdotal but I imagine the combination of the two above (anti-inflammation and relaxation) helps combat the pain.

Burn calories and lose weight

Submerging yourself in a cold bath will lower your core body temperature and as you do that, your body is working hard to prevent your body temperature from plummeting too much, therefore it boosts your metabolism.

A one hour soak in 20 degree C boosted your metabolic rate by 93% and in a 14 degree C bath by 350%. That is HUGE and a massive amount of calories burnt.

Thus ice baths could be a good supplement to a weight loss program that includes dieting and exercise.

Improved Thermoregulation

If you are a freediver like me, you know your body has an amazing ability to adapt to extreme physical situations, like depth, holding your breath etc. And its no different for temperature. 

I started regular cold baths several years ago to combat my pain from fibromyalgia. And I knew that a side effect of that was I would be able to withstand cold a lot easier. And I was. 

I remember one winter (photo above) when I was regularly taking cold baths it reached zero degrees in Taipei and even snowed at night. Now by this point, I was hardly even wearing a hoodie when I went out, but I wanted to experiment and took my dog out for a walk when it was single digits C in the afternoon for half an hour wearing no more than shorts, tshirt and sandals with no socks. It was a bit cold, but quite tolerable.

What I didn't know that the adaptation would happen the other way as well. I have spent over 20 years in Asia, and I absolutely hate Asian summers because of the humidity. It was extremely uncomfortable and draining my energy every summer. I would have thought after 20 years I would have gotten used to it, but didn't. Until I started ice baths.

Whenever I do regular ice baths, I can easily withstand an Asian humid summer. I no longer am dripping with sweat, not terribly uncomfortable and most importantly, not sucking my energy.

I'm not sure how this exactly works, but I posit that your body is getting a good workout returning your body temperature to homeostasis and that it makes that mechanism stronger whether it brings your core body temperature up from the cold or down from the heat.

This was the main catalyst for me starting ice baths on Xiaoliuqiu, because I heard the summers in Xiaoliuqiu were pretty hot so I wanted to get my body prepared to withstand it without having too much of a detrimental effect me.

Boosts Immune System