The ice bath has gained popularity over the past few years. Fitness enthusiasts and casual athletes around the world have once accepted these trends booked for elite athletes.
Ice bath (also “Cold water“) Is exactly what they make, they include soaking in cold water for a fixed time.
Ice bath temperature It is usually 10-15 ° CMany people literally choose frozen water.
Social media Full of video People’s people jumped into the frozen water. This helps everything from recovery to mental health after exercise.
But did the ice tub reached an over -advertising? The evidence says:
Ice bath for recovery after exercise
One of the main reasons why people use ice baths is to reduce muscle pain and improve recovery after exercise. Player Endurance,,, Weightlifter and FootballerIn general, use ice baths.
And there is a lot of evidence that the ice bath can improve recovery after exercise.
Studies have shown that they take ice baths immediately after intense exercise. You can reduce muscle pain The next time and for several days. Ice bathtub is also Strength, strength and flexibility.
Ice baths do this by reducing inflammation, muscle edema and muscle damage after exercise. Improvement of the clearance of metabolitesFor example, lactate.
Therefore, if you have to exercise intense on a continuous day, ice baths can be a good choice.
But you should not always use athletes.
As mentioned above, one of the ice baths is as follows. Reduction of inflammation of muscle tissue It occurs after exercise. This helps to recover muscle, but this inflammation also acts as a signal that indicates the body to adapt and become stronger.
For this reason, it can slow down the training related to training (ie, after most training sessions) that use ice bathtubs too often. Strength, endurance and powerfurthermore Muscle growth.
Especially the ice bathtub is not visible It harms aerobic health. This means that you can use it as often as you want after aerobic training session.
Ice bath and general health
In recent years, ice bathtub has been traction in a wider fitness and wellness community. Supporters suggest that they can do it. Improves mental healthImmune function and overall welfare.
But the study of this space is rare.
We have recently a Systematic review If you look at the ice bath and health results of the general population (not athletes), we will review all published studies.
We found only 11 studies, some of which used cold shower instead of ice bathtubs. Evidence can lead to small reduction in stress, small improvement of sleep quality and its own quality of life due to regular cold water flooding, and reduces the frequency of illness (for example, colds and flu).
However, many of these results have come from a single study, so be careful to be interpreted until more research is carried out. In addition, we did not know exactly how it works because we did not explore how the ice bathtub (and cold shower) caused this effect.
Is there a danger?
There is no study of the risk of ice bath at the population level, but there are some risks.
In rare cases, cold water flooded. Cold shock. This condition is caused by the rapid reduction in the skin temperature, and the gasping, and breathing, hypertension, and rarely Heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat)any It can be fatal If you are not treated quickly.
There is also evidence that staying in ice baths can increase (more than 30 minutes). Risk of hypothermiaThis is when the body temperature drops dangerously.
5 tips if you are going to try ice bath
If you are considering trying an ice bathtub, there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Do not get too cold: The word “ice” is in the name, but most research 10–15 ° C It is as cold as it optimizes their effects.
2. Do not stay too long. Ice bath duration is very different in the study, some lasts about 3 minutes and some other is about 30 years old.
But the most common range is 10-20 minutesThis seems to be enough to benefit from health and exercise. Therefore, it is a good place to start for about 10 minutes and divide it into a 3-5-minute match.
3. Enter slowly: The stress reaction reaches the first vertex 30 seconds of cold water immersionBefore disappearing. To minimize the likelihood of being severely shocked, wait until the reaction disappears before the top chest and face is soaked (or always remove the face from the water).
4. Monitor the feeling. Pay attention to the feeling you feel in the ice bathtub. Trembling is normal, but dizziness or paralysis can be a sign of you.
5. Use strategically. If you are training to improve your strength, force or size, consider using the ice bath rarely, not everyday.
Hunter BennettAthletic science instructor, Namhoju University and Ben SingResearchers, combined health and human performance, Namhoju University
This article has been published conversation According to Creative Commons License. Read Original article.
