People with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or circulation problems should be especially careful, as the cold water can cause a sudden increase in heart rate and blood pressure. In summary, taking a hot shower after a cold plunge is safe and can be beneficial for your muscles and circulation.
With that in mind, it is generally recommended to wait at least 2 hours before taking a warm shower or bath. This allows the body to fully experience the benefits of the cold therapy, such as reduced inflammation and muscle soreness.
There is also the possibility of a shock to the body if you move from cold to hot and vice versa in an instant. You want to get back to your core body temperature through active recovery. You are better off drinking a warm beverage after taking ice baths as opposed to trying to quickly get warm with warm water.
Nothing crazy. You will feel a more intense heat from the jacuzzi because you were adjusted to the cold pool but nothing crazy will happen (unless it's a pool that is near freezing and a jacuzzi that is in the 100s Fahrenheit).
After a cold plunge, your muscles might feel tight due to the narrowing of blood vessels caused by the cold. A hot shower can help with this. The heat allows blood vessels to widen, improving blood flow and delivering important nutrients to tired muscles.
Our bodies naturally react to the cold by increasing our heart rate, which in turn pumps our blood quicker throughout our whole body. While the heart is pumping more efficiently, our overall circulation is improved even after we hop out of the shower.
After a cold plunge, dry off and warm up by getting dressed in dry clothes. You can sip a warm beverage and move to a heated area. But don't head straight for a sauna or hot tub, because the extreme heat could cause too much stress on your body.
You can do cold plunging every day. However, if you're doing it after training, daily plunges could compromise the potential for long-term performance improvements.
According to an overwhelming majority of health and fitness experts, you should first go for a sauna then cold plunge. These experts cite the example of contrast therapy, where your body (or part of it) is first immersed in hot water followed by icy cold water.
While cold plunging has numerous benefits, staying submerged for too long can introduce potential risks. Prolonged exposure to colder temperatures may lead to hypothermia, where the body loses heat faster than it can produce, resulting in symptoms like shivering, confusion, and fatigue.
This can even cause eye, respiratory infections and muscle spasm. Other problems that can occur owing to sudden dip or rise in temperature are runny nose, asthma attacks, muscular pains, sinusitis, flu, cold, sore throat, severe pains and muscular aches.
Boosts Metabolism and Weight Loss
Regular cold showers stimulate the production of brown fat, a type of fat that generates heat by burning calories. Over time, this can aid in weight management and potentially support weight loss efforts when combined with a balanced diet and exercise.
Afterdrop is the continued cooling of your body's core temperature after exiting cold water. This can cause symptoms such as shivering, hypothermia, and feeling unwell. It occurs because your body shuts down circulation to the skin during cold water immersion as a survival mechanism to preserve heat in the core.
Avoid any temptation to have a hot shower immediately after your cold water swim. This can cause blood pressure to drop as blood vessels open up too fast. Instead, dry off and get dressed in warm clothes. Have a hot drink and keep your body moving to return to your average body temperature.
A good strategy: Reserve cold plunges for cardio or rest days—and if you want to plunge on the same day as a resistance training session, experts like Andrew Huberman, PhD, recommend doing it beforehand or waiting at least four hours post-exercise so you don't blunt your gains.
Avoid immediate hot showers after a cold plunge to prevent negating the benefits of the cold exposure. If you opt for a shower, gradually increase the temperature.
The use of hot tubs and ice baths in contrast therapy is particularly beneficial for those who want to improve their performance, reduce muscle soreness after exercise or speed up injury recovery time. The benefits of using contrast therapy extend far beyond its ability to provide relief from aches and pains.
Sauna Benefits After Cold Plunge Therapy
When used together, they create a powerful contrast therapy that can supercharge your health and wellness routine. Whether you have a traditional, infrared, custom-cut, or InfraSauna® from Finnleo, you can reap many benefits from using a sauna after cold plunge therapy.
What Really Happens After 30 Days of Ice Baths? Cold water therapy can have many different benefits on the body including reducing muscle soreness, improving recovery time, decreasing inflammation and improving circulation.
Taking a cold plunge in an Ice Barrel can activate the brown adipose and muscles in your body. Once activated, irisin and FGF will be released (irisin and FGF are cold-induced endocrine activators of brown fat function in humans). These two hormones burn up the white fat tissues resulting in weight loss.
Plunging the body into cold water triggers a sudden, rapid increase in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure known as the cold shock response. That can cause a person to drown within seconds if they involuntarily gasp while their head is submerged. The shock also places stress on the heart and makes it work harder.
Shivering is a natural response of the body to cold exposure. After an ice bath, you might experience intense shivering as your body attempts to generate heat and maintain its core temperature. While shivering can be uncomfortable, it's essential to embrace it as part of the body's natural recovery process.
"Taking a cold plunge too close to bedtime might actually interfere with sleep due to the initial 'fight or flight' response triggered by the cold," Miller added. "Timing for a cold plunge matters, and earlier in the day might be a more effective time." But don't expect results immediately.
While some studies suggest a temporary drop in testosterone immediately following cold exposure, regular cold plunge sessions have been linked to stable or increased testosterone levels over time.