Each day, Tony Robbins arises and sinks into a 57-degree ice bath. Robbins, along with other professional athletes, health and wellness gurus, and celebrities, have caught onto the plethora of benefits cold water immersion may have on your mental and physical well-being. Even though cold-water immersion has been around for hundreds of years, cold water continuously makes waves in today’s wellness culture.
According to experts, once practiced daily, cold water immersion may offer long-lasting changes to the body’s digestive, circulatory, lymphatic, and immune systems that enhance your life quality.
With a couple of minutes of cold therapy, you might have the ability to activate the body’s natural healing powers, as well as promote an improved sense of well-being. Scroll down for the three most significant benefits of cold therapy for athletes, learn more about it:
Boost the Lymphatic System
Your lymphatic system is a vessel network that runs throughout your body, clearing out microbes, bacteria, and waste from the cells. Essentially, the lymphatic system helps the body cleanse itself.
Unlike blood that’s consistently pumped throughout the body by your heart, lymph fluid does not have a central pump. The lymphatic system, instead, relies upon muscle contractions that pump your lymph fluid through your vessels. Therefore, if you do not exercise or the lymphatic system becomes inefficient or slow, the lymph fluid stagnates, and toxins accumulate, manifesting in disease, infection, joint pain, and colds.
Cold therapy causes the lymph vessels to contract, which forces the lymphatic system to pump fluids through the body and flush out waste from the area.
One benefit of cold therapy is that it triggers the white blood cells of your immune system and prompts them to destroy and attack all unwanted substances in the fluid. It is kind of a domino effect – the cool water impacts your lymphatic system, which as a result, affects your immune system, eventually keeping you feeling healthy and happy.
Improves Heart Health and Circulation
Good circulation is among the most essential elements of our overall well-being and health. When you experience poor circulation, not just will you compromise your blood flow, but the heart becomes stressed. Ultimately, it might lead to muscle cramping, high blood pressure, headaches, fatigue, and even stroke and heart attack.
With an improvement in circulation, you’re able to enhance mental performance, improve heart health, boost your metabolism and immune system, and just give yourself more energy and strength to live your life.
Cold Therapy Reduces Inflammation
In conjunction with an alkaline-based diet, cold therapy has been proven to assist in counteracting side effects of sore muscles and inflammation after a challenging workout. One of the leading benefits of cold showers is constricting the blood vessels and reducing the temperature of your damaged muscle tissue. It assists in reducing any inflammation and swelling and numbs your nerve endings, which may bring instant relief from pain. This is the reason why professional athletes soak inside an ice bath after a strenuous workout.
Therefore, the next time you discover yourself feeling down, think about the benefits cold water might have in keeping your mind and body happy –be it a swim in a lake or ocean or just a cold shower in the privacy of your home.
