What are the health benefits of a cold plunge? Scientists vet the claims : Shots

What are the health benefits of a cold plunge? Scientists vet the claims : Shots

Mikki Smith lets out a cry as she adjusts to the frigid water. It was her first time with the Puget Sound Plungers in Seattle, Washington.

Mike Kane for NPR


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Mike Kane for NPR


Mikki Smith lets out a cry as she adjusts to the frigid water. It was her first time with the Puget Sound Plungers in Seattle, Washington.

Mike Kane for NPR

Your body’s first reaction to a plunge in chilly water is the “cold shock” response. Your heart rate jumps. Stress hormones spike. You gasp suddenly, and may hyperventilate.

Your reward if you stay in long enough to endure these initial excruciating moments? You start to shiver.

To the uninitiated, it may not be obvious why the practice of cold plunging has attracted a huge following in recent years.

But those who’ve embraced the cold water craze — be that in a frigid lake, the ocean, or an ice bath in their backyard — frequently describe powerful, even transformative effects on their state of mind and sense of wellbeing.

“Any anxiety, anything I’m struggling with, it’s gone and when I come out of the water — I’ve left it in the water,” says Audrey Nassal during a recent Sunday morning dip at a Seattle beach. It’s one of the gatherings put on by the Puget Sound Plungers, a group of several thousand who regularly take to the frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Riley Swortz, who’s bobbing next to Nassal, says she revels in the moment her body stops recoiling from the shock. “There’s a point where it’s no longer cold anymore,” she says, “This calm washes over you and I feel like that lasts for at least a few days.”

Groups like this one have popped up in cold water spots around the U.S. and the world.

Rain or shine, the cold plunge crew gathers just ahead of 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings in front of the bathhouse at Seattle’s Golden Gardens Park. Entering the water is a communal activity, how long you stay is up to you.

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Rain or shine, the cold plunge crew gathers just ahead of 8 a.m. on Sunday mornings in front of the bathhouse at Seattle’s Golden Gardens Park. Entering the water is a communal activity, how long you stay is up to you.

Mike Kane for NPR

The massive popularity of the trend – with social media awash in half-frozen torsos and some devotees shelling out thousands of dollars for high-end cold plunge tubs – has in turn inspired demand for rigorous scientific evidence.

“I never expected this to take that direction,” says François Haman, who has studied cold exposure for more than two decades. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

When he first started off, Haman, a professor at the University of Ottawa, found himself in a sparsely-populated discipline. The research agenda tended to focus on the risks

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Benefits of cold water: Health guru and extreme athlete Wim Hof says we have ‘power within’ to heal disease

Benefits of cold water: Health guru and extreme athlete Wim Hof says we have ‘power within’ to heal disease

The ability to control our health could be right inside us.

This is according to the philosophy and practices of Dutch athlete Wim Hof, father of the Wim Hof Method.

Hof, 63, revealed how his teachings have revolutionized public health in an on-camera interview from the Netherlands with Fox News Digital.

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The Wim Hof Method has three pillars: cold plunging, breathing and mindset.

The method has been proven scientifically — according to numerous medical journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) — to have monumental impacts on mental and physical health.

Wim Hof, known as the "Iceman" for his ability to withstand seemingly impossible levels of cold, demonstrates at a hotel in Kathmandu in May 2007.  

Wim Hof, known as the “Iceman” for his ability to withstand seemingly impossible levels of cold, demonstrates at a hotel in Kathmandu in May 2007.   (DEVENDRA MAN SINGH./AFP via Getty Images)

Nicknamed “the Iceman,” Hof shared that one chief benefit of his method is reducing inflammation. It’s the leading cause of most ailments and autoimmune diseases, he noted.

“I’m bringing my knowledge from nature through science to global health care, showing that through science — no speculation — we are able to do so much more within our physiology,” he said. 

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“And I think it’s time to have that get out to the world to bring people some consolation in these confusing times, that there is much more autonomy over mind and body,” he said.

“I’m a man on a mission. I want everybody to be happy, strong and healthy.”

Wim Hof joined Fox News Digital from the Netherlands for an on-camera interview on March 27, 2023.

Wim Hof joined Fox News Digital from the Netherlands for an on-camera interview on March 27, 2023. (Angelica Stabile/Fox News Digital)

His “powerful” techniques are “available for anybody” worldwide, he said. All it takes is commitment and a little cold water.

Who is Wim Hof?

Hof is best known for his daring physical feats, such as running marathons while barefoot beyond the polar circle and climbing through the “death zone” of Mt. Everest in only his shorts.

“I began to have control over my emotions.”

The extreme athlete first felt the pull to immerse himself in the cold as a kid growing up in Sittard, Netherlands, according to his book, “The Wim Hof Method.”

At 17, Hof took his first cold plunge on a Sunday morning in winter at Beatrixpark in Almere, Netherlands — and discovered the power of cold water.

Hof met his wife, Olaya, when he was 22 years old. The couple had four children together.

Olaya struggled with depression — and in 1995, she fell victim to the illness and committed suicide.

“The whole of psychiatry could not help [Olaya],” he said. “How broken I was in my heart and there was nothing that could help me.”

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He continued, “I had no money. I had four kids left behind and the love of my

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