Cold plunge devotees swear the wellness practice can do everything from lower the risk of depression to reduce muscle soreness, and there is a little research to suggest they may be on to something. But what if cold plunges are actually bad for women? That surprising messaging is suddenly popping up all over the place.
Take a recent Instagram video from acupuncturist Katie Pedrick that’s gone viral. “I have been saying this for years. And, once again, Chinese medicine is just way ahead of its time,” she said in the video. “Cold plunges are not great for women.”
Pedrick then cited a recent study on cold water immersion in women, noting that it found “no benefit” for study participants (more on that research in a sec). “But it did spike cortisol and stress the women’s bodies out,” Pedrick continued. “This is why you need to use wellness data that has actually been studied on women and not just copy and paste it from men. Our bodies are not the same.”
This also came up in a recent episode of The Mel Robbins podcast, where exercise physiologist Stacy Sims, PhD, said that “inherently, women don’t need as cold” temperatures as men with cold plunging. “When women get into ice cold or cold water…it invokes such a severe strong stress response, much stronger than a male’s response, that her body goes into more of a shutdown phase,” Sims said. (She suggested that women focus on warmer temperatures of 55 degrees Fahrenheit instead.)
With that, it’s fair to wonder if your cold plunge habit is doing more harm than good. We tracked down researchers, a women’s health expert, and two sports medicine specialists to get to the bottom of this.
A few things happen in a woman’s body during a cold plunge.
Research into cold plunges is ongoing, and it’s hard to make any definitive declarations about any aspect of it. But Ron Clijsen, PhD, co-author of that study Pedrick name-checked and head of research at the Rehabilitation and Exercise Science Laboratory (RESlab) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, tells SELF that there are a few major responses worth noting when women do cold plunge:
There’s a “cold shock” response. When someone of either sex immerses themselves in cold water (usually at or below 59 degrees Fahrenheit), your body reacts quickly. “You might start to breathe faster or gasp suddenly,” Clijsen says. “This triggers your body’s stress response, releasing adrenaline and other chemicals, which cause your heart to beat faster and your blood pressure to rise.” Blood vessels in your skin and extremities narrow—a process known as vasoconstriction—to help maintain your core body temperature, Vanessa Wellauer, study co-author and researcher at the Rehabilitation and Exercise Science Laboratory (RESlab) at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, tells SELF.
Your body temperature adapts. This happens anywhere from a few minutes to 10 minutes or more, per the researchers. “The body starts to produce its own heat by shivering and activating brown fat tissue,” Michael Swartzon, MD, sports medicine physician with Baptist Health Orthopedic Care, part of Baptist Health South Florida, tells SELF. (This process is called thermogenesis, FWIW.)
Stress hormone spikes. You’ll see brief spikes in stress hormones like cortisol and catecholamines, per Wellauer. “These cause short-term increases in white blood cells and immune activation markers, which are normal acute responses and not harmful,” she says. (When you continue to do cold plunges, your body adapts and reduces this response, she says.)
Cardiac strain. Cold plunges put a temporary strain on your heart. “The body’s fight or flight response occurs, causing hormonal changes that increase the heart rate,” Sherry Ross, MD, ob-gyn and women’s health expert at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, tells SELF. There can also be an increase in blood pressure, according to Clijens.
Keep in mind that these responses are usually experienced by men and women, Bert Mandelbaum, MD, sports medicine specialist at the Regenerative Orthobiologic Center at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles, tells SELF.
Cold plunges aren’t ‘bad’ for women, but there are some gender differences to point out.
Clijsen who, again, is a co-author on that study Pedrick cited, makes it clear that his study did not determine that cold plunges are bad for women. “The absence of objective benefits from cold water immersion after exercise does not imply that cold water immersion is bad or harmful for women,” he says. “Whether cold water immersion is bad for women is another question that was not the aim or answer in our study.”
But while men and women can have a similar response to cold plunges, there are a few differences in their reactions. As a whole, women have more body fat than men, who typically have more muscle mass and are bigger in size, Dr. Ross says. “Women have more insulation,” she says. “As a result of better insulation, women may feel a more intense cold sensation during the plunge and be more sensitive to the cold temperatures than men.”
Depending on a woman’s body size and fat composition, her body temperature may be more likely to drop faster than that of a man, putting her at greater risk of hypothermia—a medical emergency where the body loses more heat than it can make—sooner than a man, Clijsen says.
Your menstrual cycle influences your baseline core body temperature, and it tends to raise slightly after you ovulate, Clijsen says. “This change can impact how we feel temperature and our threshold for shivering,” he says.
As for that spike in cortisol, Dr. Swartzon points out that this is a normal stress response. “The science behind cold plunges suggests that controlled cortisol spikes can be beneficial, as opposed to chronic stress, which is harmful,” he says. “More cortisol is not better; However, a short cold plunge can help train the body to recover and be more resilient.”
Research into cold plunges is ongoing.
There is some small research to suggest that cold plunges may help reduce stress on your cells and make your body more resilient to future stress. And there’s also some data to suggest that cold plunges could support muscle recovery and maybe even boost your mood. But a lot of this research is preliminary.
“Cold plunges for women may be overrated when it comes to health,” Dr. Ross says. “While you may take the dare and go for the plunge, the shock and increased sensitivity of coldness on your skin could potentially lead to an increased heart rate, hypothermia, stress, and anxiety, which may supersede the benefits of reducing muscle soreness and inflammation.”
But if you like cold plunging, Dr. Ross says it’s not harmful to do it, as long as you’re otherwise healthy, not pregnant, and don’t have heart disease. Dr. Swartzon agrees that “cold plunges are not bad for women.” He adds, “Like most things in life, it depends on the person.” Meaning, there’s no inherent reason to stop cold plunging if you like it.
If you’re a cold plunge newbie, Dr. Swartzon just recommends starting slow. “Try a shorter time or a higher temperature first,” she says. “You can always try for a more extended session at a colder temperature next time. Let your body adapt and see if you notice an improvement in mood, stress, circulation, and recovery.” If not, or if you find that this just doesn’t feel good to you, there’s no reason to force yourself to do it again.
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