BENGALURU: In a number of movies and TV shows about a sporting team or an athlete, one of the common scenes of their ‘training arc’ is showing the athletes sit in a tub riddled with ice cubes after a hard day’s work. It gave the viewer an impression of the intensity of their routine. Well, there is a change brewing. Ice water baths are increasingly becoming more common among the general public and many in Bengaluru have picked it up lately. “I started about two weeks ago. I learnt that ice water baths essentially resets the nervous system, helps you age slower and ups your immunity.
Once I step in, I normally try staying for 8-10 minutes and have even managed 15 minutes at one point,” says Urmila Biswas, a working professional in the city. Two years into ice water bathing, athlete, fitness influencer and co-founder of SweatyNinjas, Swetha Devaraj, believes non-athletes can opt for taking ice water baths but they need to be careful.
“The cold is powerful and triggers a stress response in the body. By becoming comfortable in the stressful situation and practising shifting your mental state from fight-or-flight to calm-and-collected helps to improve overall stress tolerance and builds resilience. Not a lot of people are aware of this but cold exposure also helps to regulate blood sugar levels.
But we should remember to not overdo it. Overdoing can stress the body and it’s best to start with the help of someone with experience,” shares Devaraj, mentioning that the process can also flush lactic acid and other toxins out of tired muscles. Rohan Mathew, director, exercise physiologist and performance coach at Invictus Performance Lab, believes there are many added benefits to taking ice water baths.
“Taking an ice water bath has been a common practice in the sporting world. It helps reduce their perception of pain and recovers the nervous system. While athletes do it for recovery, the general public do it to increase their immunity. It gives you an adrenaline rush that stimulates your immune system. It’s one of the best ways to improve your immunity levels,” says Mathew.
Agreeing with Mathew, working professional and crossfit athlete Srinath P Sadhu, recommends the use of ice water baths greatly. “I use it largely for recovery. It helps accelerate the process. I have a rather intense daily training session, so a nice ice water bath helps my body recover very well. Eminent neuroscientists like Andrew D Huberman have also validated the use of it. It also brings your resting heart rate down,” he concludes adding that he has been taking ice water baths for one and a half years now.