It’s been proven that an at home ice bath may have physical and psychological benefits, such as improving recovery and mood while reducing inflammation.
However, how do cold showers fare when compared to them? While both are similar forms of cold exposure therapy, studies suggest that ice baths may have the edge when it comes to a few factors.
The team at Xtreme Ice Baths will explain these differences in detail and how cold showers may not be effective for reaching optimal benefits.
How do Cold Showers Compare to Ice Baths?
While cold showers are certainly a convenient option, they simply can’t compare to the benefits a cold plunge would bring– there’s a reason why ice baths have been used in recovery for decades now.
How? First, you can accurately control the temperature of an ice bath through its chiller, while the temperature of the coldest run-of-the-mill shower can play around 10°C-15°C, depending on the season.
This makes cold showers quite a challenging tool to use in increasing resilience and setting recovery milestones, as you often need to spend more time immersed to sustain a similar effect.
On immersion, it’s been proven that cold showers are much less immersive than a cold plunge, as they only reach specific regions of the body.
Since ice baths reach lower temperatures (around 3°C when using our chiller) and completely cover greater areas of the body, this will offer a better simulation of your vagus nerve.
For further context, the vagus nerve is an important part of your parasympathetic system, which is responsible for regulating stress in the body. This nerve is especially long as it consists of all the nerves going to and from the brain and spinal cord all the way to your abdomen.
While cold showers can potentially stimulate this nerve, an ice bath offers better immersion as you can completely submerge your body from the neck down. This brings lower stress levels, improved metabolic rates, better stress tolerance, and induces relaxation when compared to partial exposures.
Recover Better With Xtreme Ice Baths!
While cold showers are cheap and convenient to use when compared to ice baths, they are unlikely to be an efficient form of cold exposure therapy when compared to existing methods where they stand now.
More research is needed to clarify its benefits, as other forms such as cold plunges have been more thoroughly investigated and proven effective.
However, even though it may not compare to the convincing benefits of an ice plunge, taking a cold shower consistently still has its advantages. Recent research suggests that taking cold showers for 15-60 seconds daily for two weeks can lower stress levels.
Based on this study, we could treat cold showers as a ‘stepping stone’ for interested individuals looking to break the ice through gradual steps to achieving complete cold exposure.
Once they have the resilience needed, the only step left is to contact us today and let our experts recommend you a decent tub for an at home ice bath.
The team at Xtreme Plunge has a history of dealing with strength and development training, which is why our inflatable tubs employ the latest filtration, sanitation, and cooling technology to provide cold clean water to get amazing health benefits.
