Cold exposure

Cold water immersion or shower, recorded by temperature and duration.

Recovery practices

Research records

Historical source snapshot. Not freshly verified, not a recommendation. Study findings, community accounts and app defaults are not interchangeable.

Publication suitability · 2026-10-15: Historical reference only; not a clinical verification. Clinical, regulatory, efficacy, safety and dose claims are not independently established by this review.

Cold exposure

Cold water immersion or shower, recorded by temperature and duration.

Evidence category: Systematic review. This describes the source category, not approval or certainty.

Regulatory statement in source: Not separately recorded; do not infer approval from the evidence category.

A meta-analysis of 11 randomised studies with 3,177 healthy adults found cold-water immersion raised inflammation markers immediately and an hour afterwards, and lowered stress 12 hours later, with no significant effect on stress at other time points. A meta-analysis of 30 randomised trials found cold-water immersion lowered creatine kinase and muscle soreness after exercise, but did not improve maximal strength, and partial immersion reduced explosive power immediately afterwards. Whole-body and partial immersion did not differ overall. Evidence is pooled human trials of mixed quality.

Benefits reported in the imported source

Pooled randomised trials show lower creatine kinase and less muscle soreness after exercise.
One meta-analysis found stress lower 12 hours after immersion.

Risks and limits

The same trials show no gain in maximal strength, and partial immersion cut jump power.
Inflammation markers rose immediately and an hour after; immune measures did not change.
Stress was unchanged at every other time point, and pooled trials are of mixed quality.

Source bottom line: Cold-water immersion eases post-exercise soreness and muscle damage markers, without improving strength.

Uncertainty: Reference information only. Not medical advice.

Study protocols — reports, not instructions

3,177 healthy adults across 11 randomised studies

Reported regimen: Cold-water immersion in baths or a shower at 7-15 C, lasting 30 seconds to 2 hours, acute or repeated
Duration: Not stated
Reported outcome: Inflammation rose immediately and 1 hour after; stress fell 12 hours after but not at other time points; immune function showed no significant change.
Source: Effects of cold-water immersion on health and wellbeing: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Cain et al. 2025)

Claim provenance

evidence.json#/catalog:recovery:cold-exposure/protocols/0

Adults after exercise, across 30 randomised controlled trials

Reported regimen: A single acute cold-water immersion, whole-body or partial, compared with seated passive rest
Duration: Single session, followed 0-72 hours
Reported outcome: Creatine kinase and muscle soreness fell, mostly at 24 h; maximal voluntary contraction and jump height did not improve, and partial immersion cut jump power at 0 h.
Source: Effects of cold-water immersion at different body regions on post-exercise muscle damage recovery: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Zhu et al. 2026)

Claim provenance

evidence.json#/catalog:recovery:cold-exposure/protocols/1

Community and practice descriptions

Accounts of a practice are not evidence of safety or effectiveness. Words such as “standard”, “safe” or “recommended” describe the source account, not verified consensus or this wiki’s advice. Commercial and self-published citations are retained for traceability, not vendor endorsement or independent clinical corroboration.

Unverified imported account — Are 'Cold Plunge' Ice Baths Good for You? - Cleveland Clinic

An imported authored paraphrase, not a quotation or a recommended protocol.

Review: unverified historical account. The imported wording is preserved for attribution; its full clinical, dosing, efficacy or consensus claims have not been independently established. Described practice context only; no clinical benefit or safety outcome is inferred.

Imported wording: Cold plunges are taken in a bath of cold tap water or water cooled further with ice, sometimes as part of a workout or wellness routine.

Are 'Cold Plunge' Ice Baths Good for You? - Cleveland Clinic

Historical research outcome: verified-description · 2026-10-06

Rechecked the previously published description against live source content. The web-fetch tool retrieved the live Cleveland Clinic article and its description of cold tap water or added ice in a workout/wellness context. Direct curl was blocked; no source access barrier was bypassed and no temperature or safety-duration advice is repeated.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-to-know-about-cold-plunges: verified-description — The web-fetch tool retrieved the live Cleveland Clinic article and its description of cold tap water or added ice in a workout/wellness context. Direct curl was blocked; no source access barrier was bypassed and no temperature or safety-duration advice is repeated.

Pharmacokinetic context

No half-life recorded in this source snapshot. No value has been inferred.

Source references

Snapshot provenance

Source ID: catalog:recovery:cold-exposure. Commit: adc7684614f9439b41d91a3312b62e7982c7e20e. Review state: historical-not-reverified. Authored links are retained separately from the canonical evidence links in the public data. App templates/defaults and rejected drafts are archived, not deployed.

Related entries and components

None listed.