Cold Plunges for Inflammation: Calming the Body's Immune Response Naturally

Even though cold water immersion can be an uncomfortable experience, evidence shows that it can strengthen the body’s immune response. In addition to enhancing the body’s immune system, cold plunging provides long-term benefits in the circulatory and lymphatic systems. These systems support overall health, increasing the body’s ability to combat infection and diseases. So, what responses do cold plunges activate in the body, and how do they affect immunity? Let’s find out.

Cold Plunges Trigger Hormesis and Cold Shock Response

Exposure to cold water triggers various acute physiological responses, jointly known as the cold shock response. Cold shock response increases heat generation while reducing heat loss from the body. This response prevents the body from getting overly cold or hot, seeing that prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures can negatively impact your body.

When you do it in controlled doses, cold plunging can help you control hormesis. Hormesis is an adaptive reaction of organisms and cells to intermittent or moderate stress. Stress in controlled amounts can be critical for longevity, helping your body to be more efficient and stronger in the face of environmental stressors. So, how do hormesis and cold shock response impact your immune system?

·       Norepinephrine and Immunity

The release of norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, is crucial to cold shock response. It’s generated in some parts of the brain and the adrenal glands. This hormone narrows blood vessels to reduce heat loss, stimulates thermogenesis, increases the heart rate, and regulates immune function.

Cold water immersion stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, a section of the nervous system that controls your fight-or-flight response. A neuroendocrine effect occurs when the fight or flight response is activated. As a result, you experience high production of hormones such as noradrenaline and cortisol.

This response often leads to increased blood pressure and heart rate and is vital for improving overall health. Studies have revealed that cold plunging can raise norepinephrine by up to 300%, interfering with inflammatory cytokines, which are small proteins that push the inflammatory response. 

·       Impact of Cold Water Exposure on Immune Cells

A study in England revealed that cold water immersion often increases white blood cells, which fight off diseases in the body. The researchers opined that as the body attempts to warm itself after cold plunging, metabolic speed accelerates, activating the immune system. This triggers the discharge of more white blood cells, as supported by another study that investigated whether non-infectious methods, like the cold plunge tub, could activate the immune system.

Some cell types have been shown in research to be positively affected by doses of cold water. The discharge and stimulation of Natural Killer cells, also known as NK cells, which are critical effectors of tumor immunity, have been found to increase with short stints of daily cold water exposure.

Further, the study showed increased T-lymphocytes or cytotoxic T-cells, core effectors of adaptive immunity. When mice were exposed to brief cold water sessions for eight days, there was an improvement in their survival against intracellular Toxoplasma gondii, associated with improved cell-mediated immunity.

Another clinical study evaluated the impact of six weeks of cold plunging at 14°C for longer periods on the immune system. It established that the cold water immersion activated T-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes and increased CD8, CD3, IL-6, and CD4 levels, suggesting a more active immune system. In another study, high levels of NK cells and IL-6 were found, showing evidence for the immune-stimulating effect of cold plunging. 

·       Cold Plunges and the Lymphatic System

Cold water exposure activates a positive systemic stress. The process begins when cold receptors on the skin send electrical impulses to your brain. This positive temporary activation prompts the HPA axis and sympathetic nervous system and has powerful stimulating effects on the immune system since it facilitates lymphatic drainage. The lymphatic system forms part of the immune system. It is a web of vessels that flow across the human body, helping clear bacteria, microbes, and waste from the cells.

Further, it heavily relies on contractions that aid the pumping of lymph fluid across the vessels to flush out waste. When the lymphatic system becomes slow and inefficient, it cannot flush out fluid effectively, which stagnates, leading to various diseases.

Cold plunging exposes your lymph vessels to a workout. They contract, which enables them to pump out waste more efficiently and activate a response from the white blood cells. They attack and damage unwanted components in the lymph fluid, protecting your body from sickness. Cold water exposure has been found to increase platelet and white blood cell counts, improving your body’s ability to fight illness. 

·       Impact of Cold Water Exposure on Anti-oxidizing and Antioxidants

One study revealed that people who regularly immersed themselves in cold water had high glutathione levels, an antioxidant critical for fighting oxidative stress and detoxing. The cold activates anti-oxidative cellular defenses, including the superoxide dismutase pathway and glutathione, improving immune cell function. Studies have shown that cold plunging can enhance your antioxidant status, allowing you to deal with free radicals effectively. It’s worth mentioning that cold water exposure initially triggers oxidative stress before activating an adaptive antioxidant response, which is associated with hormesis.

·       Cold Plunging and Proteins

Cold water immersion can positively impact Proteins, the body’s building blocks. First, cold plunging activates heat shock proteins, facilitating the proper cellular protein folding. As seen above, cold water exposure also stimulates cold shock proteins, which are critical for neurodegeneration.

Further, they are vital for various age-related and acute diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer, chronic kidney and liver disease, and Alzheimer’s. Cold shock proteins regulate multiple molecules associated with longevity pathways, such as TGF-ß (fibrosis), p53 (DNA damage, senescence), and NF-kB (inflammation).

Complementary Methods of Calming Your Immune Response

Why would you need to calm your immune response? While the immune system is crucial to life, sometimes it becomes overactive, triggering health problems. An overactive immune response occurs when your body can’t differentiate between healthy cells and toxic components.

As a result, it attacks and damages healthy cells mistakenly. Sometimes, it continues attacking even after eliminating the intruder. An overactive immune system presents itself in various ways, such as getting an allergic reaction to ordinarily harmless components.

An overreacting immune system is dangerous and can result in severe autoimmune conditions. In addition to the best cold plunge, you can use the tips below to calm your immune response.

·       Eat Vegetables and Fruits Daily

Fruits and vegetables contain adequate micronutrients to ensure you don’t miss essential nutritional components such as vitamin A and zinc. Your immune system needs these nutrients to fight invading microbes. Remember, food contains superior nutrients than supplements. The fiber from vegetables and fruits aids the production of essential compounds in your gut’s microbiome, promoting a healthy immune system. 

·       Get Adequate Sleep

Failure to get adequate sleep compromises the immune system. Poor sleep reduces the natural killer cell activity, increasing the risk of viral infections and cancer. It also activates the production of inflammatory cytokines, increasing the risk of metabolic and cardiovascular disorders. 

·       Reduce Stress

Physical and psychological stress can weaken your immune system, increasing the risk of infections. You can reduce stress by practicing deep breathing, meditation, and exercising.

Finally

You don’t have to spend many hours inside a cold plunge to enjoy the benefits of cold exposure on your immune response. Even brief cold plunging sessions can effectively alleviate symptoms of various illnesses and regulate your immune response.