Evolutionary Health Benefits of Cold Water Immersion

Ed. – Here’s a repost from 2009. Get out of that damn pool and experience reality as you were designed to do!
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As many of you may already know, I am a strong proponent of the health benefits of cold water. My argument for this is simple – cold water exposure seems to trigger positive gene expression. And from an evolutionary standpoint, this makes perfect sense.

It is quite unlikely that paleolithic hunter-gathers – especially those who migrated across several continents during the last Ice Age – would have come across lukewarm or hot water during their daily existence. In fact, our ritual of starting off one’s day with a hot shower is a very new and very unnatural phenomenon.

Here are a few examples of studies where cold water exposure seemed to have a significant positive health impact. Check out the individual links for more details.

Immune system – A 1987 study by the Hanover Medical School demonstrated that regular cold showers can reduce one’s susceptibility to the common cold.

Circulation – A 2005 study at Chonbuk National University concluded that repeated exposure to cold water helped stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in both cardiac and skeletal muscle systems

Mood – A 2007 study indicated that exposure to cold water may enhance mood in humans by stimulating brain pathways of multiple neurotransmitters.

Bottom line – not only does exposure to cold water appear to be healthy, but lack of exposure to cold water (and colder temperatures in general) might actually be unhealthy.