Do Cold Showers Increase Dopamine?

 People across various cultures have practiced cryotherapy (which is a fancy term for cold water therapy) for thousands of years. It might have looked different, but the idea has remained the same.

Today, we use cold water therapy in many different fields. We use it to improve our moods, relieve pain, speed up recoveries, and strengthen our immune systems.

How Does Cold Water Therapy Work?

The short version is that cold water lowers your body temperature, which triggers increased blood flow to your core. Once you're out of the water, blood flow establishes itself, ideally with improvement. Cold water can help improve alertness, decrease inflammation, and reduce pain.

More specifically, cold water triggers what's called vasoconstriction (which just means that your blood vessels contract). When this happens, blood is pushed toward your organs, which refreshes the blood with increased oxygen and nutrients.

Once your body temperature starts to come back up (after you get out of the water), vasodilation occurs, which is your blood vessels opening back up. This allows all the freshly oxygenated and nutrient-enriched blood to flood back into your tissues and promote a healthier environment. This blood can also help remove waste products such as lactic acid buildup, which, if left to sit in the muscles, could delay the healing process.

What Are the Health Benefits of Cold Water Immersion?

As cold water immersion becomes increasingly popular, we learn more about the health benefits that accompany it. More and more studies are being done that continue to convince us that everyone should get on board with this particular trend! Here are some of the benefits you can expect:

Aids Recovery From Exercise

If you have any exposure to the world of athletes, it's likely you have heard about using cold water therapy as a way to quickly recover from exercise. Trainers, coaches, and individuals use it as a means to reduce delayed onset muscle soreness which can affect next-day performance.

Reduces Acute and Chronic Pain

There have been excellent results with using cold water therapy to reduce both short-term and long-term (acute and chronic) pain. It does this by reducing inflammation. Problems such as rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and sprains are all made worse by inflammation, so bringing that down is a great way to reduce pain.

Another reason cold water therapy helps with pain is because of how it affects the nervous system. Cold water can help block nerve cells from signaling pain.

Improves Circulation

One of the big reasons we see improvement in this area is because ice-cold water improves circulation, which improves many other things.

The circulatory system (AKA your cardiovascular system) pumps blood to the lungs to get oxygenated. This is how the rest of the body gets oxygen. The better your heart and blood vessels function, the less waste there is in your body. This means healthier tissues, organs, and muscles.

In short, better circulation means better overall well-being. It's a worthy goal!

Improves Mood and Mental Health

Many studies have shown incredible results for using cold therapy as a way of one's elevating mood! We have seen individuals reporting less anxiety, stress, and depression after a cold shower or ice bath.

It's important to note that while cold therapy is an excellent way to feel better in every sense, it can't always replace other forms of mental health care.

Builds Resilience

If you want a challenge, regularly withstanding cold temperatures is a great way to build resilience while improving your health! Forcing your mind to handle the physical stress that comes with cold water therapy will help you handle other stressful situations.

Your body's natural response to stress is to release hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and epinephrine. It's like an alarm ringing through your body, prepping it for action. (This is also similar to how our bodies react to exercise, which is why cold therapy can help some people lose weight!)

Repeatedly exposing yourself to stress allows you to practice regulating your reactions to the physiological response that comes with it, which will lead to stronger mental fortitude.

Does Cold Exposure Increase Your Dopamine Levels?

Dopamine is also called the "feel-good" hormone because of how it helps regulate your mood. An increase in dopamine can mean a huge improvement of cognitive attention and mood. Norepinephrine is a hormone that improves focus, mood, attention, and resilience. It also triggers an increase in the number of mitochondria in your body, which helps to transform white fat into brown fat (which is a positive if you're looking to lose weight or gain energy).

Both of these hormones are shown to increase by 200-500% during cold water therapy! What that means for us is that, scientifically, we can feel and function better every day by engaging in cold water therapy. The increased dopamine helps us in every facet of life, from relationships to productivity.

What Should the Water Temperature Be in a Cold Shower to Increase Dopamine?

Some benefits can be achieved at a variety of temperatures stretching up to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, 50-60 degrees is where most people feel most comfortable. However, we see from modern research that you can get extremely powerful results from temperatures as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit!

It's important to understand that those lowest temperatures are not for people who haven't worked to get there. Training and acclimation are the only ways to reach such low temperatures and avoid cold shock.

How Long Does the Dopamine Increase Last After Ice Baths?

Some people compare ice baths to other temporary mood boosters such as cocaine. However, unlike cocaine, cold plunges provide a sustainable rise that lasts. You will notice a steady increase in dopamine production over the course of three hours, and it can stay for up to six hours after you leave the water!

This means that cold plunging is a healthy, affordable, and safe way to improve your mood on a daily basis. It's even been shown to improve the mental health of those with severe mental disorders! You can enjoy the positive effects of a dopamine boost without putting yourself or your livelihood at risk.

Conclusion

Cold water therapy (cold showers, ice baths, etc) is an easy and natural way to improve your overall health, mood included. Dopamine boosts derived from cold water therapy can help you get through a difficult day with a positive outlook and increased productivity.

Join the millions of people who are seeing their physical and mental health blossom into something they can eagerly enjoy and start cold plunging!