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The cold is uncomfortable and puts our body on alert. But those who persevere will be rewarded. Winter swimming or even ice bathing has tangible health benefits.
David Beckham, Lady Gaga or the Swiss freeskier Andri Ragettli: They all follow a trend that has continued since Corona: swimming or bathing outside, even in winter.
Gerda Imhof has been in charge since 2017 Winter swimming in Lake Lucerne. New interested people join us all the time. “It’s good for the body, but it also helps the psyche,” says the 34-year-old yoga teacher. “When it’s gray and not much going on socially, there’s a good mood!”
Ready for a mini-adventure on your own doorstep? Willing to push your own limits? If you are healthy, there are good reasons to try winter swimming or ice bathing:
1. Cold bath makes you happy
The happiness of a short midday bath lasts the whole day. Provided you can stand it in cold water for at least a minute or two – until the euphoric effect kicks in.
Bex Fajkovic, head of a cryotherapy center, explains it like this: “Certain enzymes and hormones are produced in much larger quantities than usual. Serotonin, for example, or dopamine.” A real feel-good cocktail that makes you feel much better – emotionally but also physically.
This activation of the reward center could also explain why many winter swimmers become addicted to the cold bath. Bonus: Dopamine promotes concentration.
2. Cold helps to lose weight
In animal studies and in humans, scientists have found that cold activates brown fat in the body. Thanks to special mitochondria, the brown fat cells are able to produce heat by oxidizing fatty acids. Unlike white body fat, brown fat burns energy and thus helps you lose weight – a real calorie killer.
3. Cold helps with pain
In rheumatic diseases such as arthrosis, cold therapy is used for temporary pain relief. The pain stimuli triggered by the cold virtually block the arthrosis pain underneath. Because the central nervous system can only process a certain amount of pain.
4. Cold makes you calm
“In cold water, the body reacts to the cold stress by releasing adrenaline,” says sports scientist Boris Gojanovic, explaining the positive effects of ice bathing. “This hormone is then regulated down again.” The parasympathetic nervous system then brings about a state of calm. “Heart rate slows down, digestion improves, or even sleep.”
5. Cold bathing strengthens the immune system
The Dutchman Wim Hof, also known as «The Iceman». He has shown in scientific experiments that breathing and will training, which is built up during ice bathing, can influence the immune system to fight infections.
Scientists from the Dutch Radboud University in Nijmegen have confirmed this. They infected Wim Hof and 12 volunteers who trained using his method with bacteria that cause a type of cold. “We saw that the Wim Hof group had fewer cold symptoms than a group of untrained people,” says Matthijs Kox, describing the experiment.
A direct positive effect of cold baths on the immune system – without appropriate training – was only examined in smaller scientific studies. But in the swimming group in Lucerne everyone agrees at this lunchtime: since they go swimming regularly in winter, colds have decreased.