Be Well with Samantha Steele

Cold Therapy

By Samantha Steele

It’s wintertime in the High Country and with the frosty beauty of the outdoors that surround us, isn’t it tempting to spend more time outside? But “IT’S COLD!” you say.

Cold actually isn’t so bad. We have used cold packs to reduce inflammation and swelling, right? Ice is useful for numbing pain in muscles and can even be used to decrease spasms. What is not as well known is that cold can be used to treat a wide range of physiological and psychological ailments, including chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

Cold Therapy, otherwise known as “Deliberate Cold Exposure,” or DCE, can be extremely effective in improving your emotional resilience, reducing stress, strengthening your willpower, increasing mental alertness, improving your skin and hair, stimulating weight loss, increasing testosterone in men, enhancing fertility, improving circulation, boosting your immunity, and stimulating your lymphatic system.

Let’s look more closely at some ways in which DCE can help the body:

Physical and Emotional Resilience

Cold showers will train your nervous system to be more resilient to stress by acting as a small form of oxidative stress on your nervous system. Although the first time you turn on that cold shower, you won’t be able to think straight, after about a month your body adapts and the ice-cold water will be a welcome addition to your plan for modulating stress in everyday life. Over time, you’re likely to feel more “calm, cool and collected.”

Blood Circulation and Lung Function

When cold water hits your body, the blood vessels on the surface of your body constrict. This causes blood in your deeper tissues to circulate at faster rates to maintain ideal body temperature. Remember how a cold plunge or burst of cold water takes away your breath? It’s that breathlessness that improves your lung function. This is proven in a study published in the North American Journal of Medical Sciences. So, when you gasp and hold your breath each time you take a plunge, slowly, methodically release your breath to improve your lung function.

Advanced Immune Response

A study from England found that those who took daily cold showers had increased numbers of disease-fighting white blood cells (compared to people who took hot showers). The investigators at Britain’s Thrombosis Research Institute suggested that as the body tries to warm itself during and after a cold shower, metabolic rate speeds up and activates the immune system, which leads to the release of more white blood cells. And, according to one German study, consistency is essential! Those who only participated in an occasional winter swim in cold water had increased oxidative stress, but, done regularly, such swimming leads to an adaptive antioxidant response. Those who regularly partook in cold water swims had bodies better equipped to combat oxidative stress in general once they were accustomed to cold-water swims.

Inflammation and Pain Reduction

Submerging yourself in the chilled water instantly numbs the nerves that surround your joints and muscles, causing the constriction of blood flow and extracellular fluids; it also causes the release of hormones and endorphins, which help reduce inflammation. Most of us have benefitted from the relief that a cold pack brings to a swollen or injured body part, so believing that a cold stream of water from the shower or other cold immersion like an ice bath helps with pain is not at all a stretch. Studies show the release of hormones and endorphins acts as an analgesic, which relieves inflammation and alleviates muscle strain and joint pain.

Mood Boosting

As the cold water envelops the entire body, norepinephrine, an anti-stress hormone and neurotransmitter, and epinephrine/adrenaline are released, which is what makes you feel so invigorated! Several studies are now being conducted on the use of cold water therapy and cold showers to help treat depression; one small study showed that cold hydrotherapy can relieve depressive symptoms rather effectively. In addition, a 2007 study found evidence that cold showers can help treat depression symptoms, and, when used regularly, might even be more effective than prescription antidepressants.

In addition to the benefits already stated, you can expect to see higher energy levels and overall improvement in metabolism, quality of sleep and focus.

So if you’re ready to more enthusiastically embrace the cold, be sure to speak with your healthcare professional about cold therapy, especially if you have a history of heart conditions. Although alternating hot/cold shower therapy of any degree is most certainly helpful for blood flow and inflammation, shoot for a temperature of 55 degrees or below to see the greatest benefit.

Let’s face it, the first few seconds of extreme cold exposure is tough, but powering through can work wonders at training your brain and strengthening your will power to do things you otherwise may not do. This positive attitude could then translate to other areas of your life!

Samantha Steele is a nutritionist, food scientist and herbalist who loves spending time outside foraging for wild foods while appreciating the abundance of God’s creation. • Samantha can be contacted at cmlmag3@gmail.com. • The views are those of the author and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult your personal physician or healthcare professional before making Be Well changes to any treatments, regimens or diets. References: “Body hardening” with cold therapy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/ pii/0891584994900302 Depression and cold showers: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/ S030698770700566X https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17993252/ Antioxidant protection: https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/ 92/4/193/1586500 Whole body cryotherapy stimulates the body’s autonomic nervous system and decreases core temperature: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov CAROLINA MOUNTAIN LIFE Winter 2021/22 — 97