Is Cold Therapy Good or Bad for the Immune System?

I remember when I was a kid, our family would go to Carmel Beach often to visit. If you haven’t been there, the water is always ice cold! One Christmas on college break, we decided to go back there and I wanted to challenge myself to immerse into the ice-cold ocean. Well most Asian parents don’t want their kids to get cold, because you could get sick. But my parents were pretty open minded. So my sister and I ran up and down the beach till we were warm, then polar plunged into the Dec 25^th cold ocean. It was cold. Photo Credit James Petts

To my surprise the shock of the cold made me laugh. When I got out of the water, the feeling of the blood rushing was invigorating. And then there was a sense of bliss, accomplishment, self-resolve and confidence that flooded over me. That was unexpected.

Cryotherapy, the “Ice Man”, and contrast hydrotherapy seem to be hot therapies lately. How does it work? A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10444630) showed an increase in WBCs (white blood cells) and NK cells (a particular type of T cell, the fights viruses and cancer) when subjects were exposed to cold, after having been preheated with exercise.

But a different study published in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17705968/) concluded that exposure to cold is associated with an increase in respiratory disease. And that the longer the duration of exposure to cold, the higher the risk of infection. This study seems to be in line with the Chinese old wives tales of “don’t get cold, or you’ll get sick.”

In-fact in Chinese medicine TCM certain conditions are associated with “cold” such as arthritis being worse in cold, or poor digestion with “cold” in the middle Jiao. Hives are often associated with “internal wind” imbalances. Sometimes “wind” imbalance in the head can cause brain fog, or dizziness. Usually patients with these conditions do not have enough qi (or prana) to expel these external influences trapped inside the body such as cold, damp, or wind and physical disease occurs. And here’s where herbs, and energy work come into play to help.

Back to cold exposure, there is a lot of evidence and people reporting improved immunity, improved circulation, decreased depression, improved mood, improved focus, decrease fatigue, decreased pain etc. that comes with practicing cold exposure. It looks like there is conflicting data. My personal opinion is that it depends on body type and also one’s current health in time. Someone who is constitutionally “depleted” may not do well with cold therapy. Cold therapy also should be done gradually and trained. It is also important that the body is warm (such as after exercise, a hot shower/bath, sauna etc) before exposing to cold. Do not let yourself feel internally chilled, because in my experience that can increase susceptibility to getting sick. But an invigorating shock of cool/cold to a warm body for a short period of time can sometimes be beneficial.

You can easily start by taking a hot shower, then doing a couple rounds of 2 min hot and (10-30 seconds of cold). Initially just turn the water cooler, so you feel a difference. This will alert the autonomic nervous system (often improving mood, decreasing anxiety, waking up the immune system etc). As you are more accustomed, you can slowly turn the water colder and increase the time for your cold blast.

“To expose to cold, or to not expose to cold…this is the question.” Let me know what you think and what your experiences are.