Is cold exposure therapy really that good for you?
Also known as cryotherapy, cold exposure therapy is the therapeutic practice of exposing your body to cold temperatures to reduce body heat to help with pain and inflammation. Professional athletes also use it as a method of recovery following rigorous workouts, but is it really the way to go?
According to Dr. Michael Israetel, PhD, otherwise known as Dr. Mike from the YouTube channel Renaissance Periodization believes that cold exposure could actually hinder one’s ability to gain muscle and even raise the risk of injury.
“Cold exposure does very poorly for gains,” Israetel said in a recent video. “If you do it before training, it cools the muscle and connective tissue, making them literally more brittle—in the physics sense, more brittle.
“And if you do it pre-training or somehow in training, like if you’re too cold between sets, there’s a much, much higher injury risk. So, unless you do cold exposure, then rewarm up, and then train—like Joe Rogan does—it’s not a good idea. It is not a good idea to be cold pre- and during training for straight-up injury risk by itself.
“If you are getting cold exposure after training, you are harming yourself—well, not harming, sorry—preventing yourself from getting as jacked as possible.”
Cold exposure therapy can be anything from a cold shower to the use of ice packs, but ice baths seem to be the method that has become increasingly popular in recent years.
YouTube Commenters come to the defense of Cold Exposure Therapy
While most of the commenters on YouTube are not world-class athletes, many of them were quick to defend CET and how something as simple as starting their day with a cold shower has positively impacted their lives.
“My buddy used cold therapy to help him quite benzos,” one user wrote. “He got me on it and it’s helped me manage my mental health. I’d argue that that’s where the primary benefits of cold plunges lie.”
“Cold ass showers in the winter helped pull me out a a depressive funk and build a meditation habit last year,” another added. “I stand by cold showers as a great way to wake up.”
“Cold plunging first thing in the morning makes the rest of your day great by ensuring it’s not gonna get worse than that,” a third hilariously pointed out.
“I had chronic pain for years which thankfully is well controlled now. Cold showers were a huge analgesic and anti-inflammatory for me. It’s become a trendy thing and is thus overhyped, and some claims are false. But I can say that 100 percent it has a palpable effect on pain and mood.”
