Cold plunge benefits? They're all in your head

We are at peak cold plunge. There isn’t an influencer who hasn’t posted an icy dip clip on their feed, and every Hyrox bro and their mother seems to be relishing in the hypothermic hype.

“There are a lot of fitness trends that are popular in the fitness world, but this is mainstream,” says Danny King, director of performance and recovery at Life Time. “You'll have random people, who barely work out, talking like, ‘Hey, You're cold plunging?’”

It’s not surprising that cold plunging has captured the attention and curiosity of the masses, with cold plunge companies and hordes of relentlessly online brand shills brandishing the practice’s seemingly boundless benefits, including the ability to accelerate muscle recovery, reduce inflammation, improve circulation, reduce stress, boost immunity, and generally fix your sad little life. 

“Almost anything that promises that, like, you might not be as stiff or achy anymore, or you might get some positive mental health benefits — those types of things are just so on topic right now,” says King.

But after years of runaway marketing hype, the white coats are finally catching up. While the science surrounding cold plunging has long been murky and contradictory at best, a new wave of water-tight meta-analyses is revealing the science-backed, peer-reviewed facts about what cold plunging actually can — and, crucially, cannot — do for your physical and mental health.

Depending on your goals, we’re not saying that cold plunging is no longer worth your time and money. But we’re not not saying that. “There are some benefits, but not necessarily in the way that people are led to believe," says William B. Workman, MD, board-certified orthopedic surgeon at DISC Sports and Spine Center in Walnut Creek, California.

Here, leading experts break the ice on the comprehensive cold plunge research we’ve all been waiting for.

Cold plunging blunts muscle growth

Cold plunging does not support post-workout recovery

One of the most common claims that we hear from cold plunge brands is that their products can help speed up muscle recovery. It’s got a nice ring to it. Unfortunately, those marketing departments are writing cheques that science cannot cash.

In 2023, the journal Frontiers in Physiology published a meta-analysis that reviewed 20 years worth of scientific research on cold exposure and muscle recovery. The review focused on data gathered within the first 48 hours following cold water immersion. Notably, during that period, the researchers noted no reduction in blood levels of C-reactive protein or interleukin-6 – two key proteins that spike during inflammation. And when subjects were tasked with performing a vertical jump test – a common measure of lower-body muscle recovery in scientific studies – after cold plunging, they actually performed worse than the control group.

Interestingly, while cold plunging failed to move the needle on these objective metrics of post-workout recovery, it did score high on subjective measures. Subjects who cold plunged after a workout reported instantly feeling less muscle soreness and fatigue. However, these self-reported improvements proved temporary, and had worn off by the time the researchers checked in 24 and 48 hours after the initial training session. “There's a numbing, anesthetic effect of the cold, which can help,” says Dr. Workman, “but it also has a constrictive effect, which is not helpful for recovery.”

Warm water, meanwhile, actually could help accelerate muscle recovery. A 2025 study published in The Journal of Physiology found that while cold water immersion did not reduce blood markers of muscle damage following electrically induced muscle contractions, warm water exhibited a positive impact across both objective and subjective metrics, leading the researchers to conclude that warm water might be more beneficial than cold water when it comes to muscle regeneration.

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