Brief cold showers may offer modest benefits when sick with the flu or common illnesses, according to emerging research.
Evidence suggests that quick cold water exposure can potentially stimulate certain immune cells, improve circulation, relieve congestion, and provide an energizing sensory jolt. However, prolonged chilling also strains the body, so caution is warranted for those with medical conditions like heart disease or respiratory infections.
With prudent precautions, brief cold showering is likely safe and potentially advantageous for many healthy adults when sick.
In this article, we will overview some of the potential benefits cold showers could offer due to effects like boosting immune activity, enhancing circulation, controlling fever, and providing symptom relief. Next, we will discuss the risks of cold water immersion when ill, like aggravating respiratory symptoms or causing dangerous drops in body temperature. We’ll also cover which groups are at higher risk and should avoid cold exposure when sick.
Later sections will analyze the available research on cold temperature’s impacts on the immune system’s functioning. We’ll explore questions like whether cold showers can prevent colds or make you sicker, as well as how they may affect specific illnesses like the flu, coughs, sinus infections, and headaches. Finally, we will compare and contrast hot vs. cold showers to provide tips on optimizing shower temperature for recovery.
Let’s dive in!
Benefits of Cold Showers When Sick
While taking a cold shower may seem counterintuitive when you’re feeling sick, research suggests that brief cold exposure could provide certain advantages that support your immune system.
Here are seven main benefits that cold showers may offer when you’re sick.
1. Stimulate Immune Cells
Some studies indicate that cold exposure can activate certain white blood cells and antibodies. When you’re sick, a quick cold shower at the end of a warm shower may help motivate these immune defenders to keep up the fight against the infection you’re battling.
Cold stress induces a brief fight-or-flight response, spurring the release of hormones like noradrenaline. This stimulation could give your disease-fighting white blood cells and antibodies an extra boost when your immune system needs it most.
2. May Enhance Circulation
Brief cold showers also lead to constriction and then dilation of blood vessels, which improves circulation.
When your body first senses cold, your blood vessels constrict to preserve core body heat. But this reduction in blood flow is quickly followed by vasodilation—vessels dilate, and blood rushes back out to the surface.
This enhanced circulation may benefit immunity by distributing more oxygen, nutrients, and immune cells to infected areas in need.
3. Helps Clear Nasal Congestion
When you have a cold or flu, inflammation and increased blood flow can lead to congestion and stuffiness in the nasal passages and sinuses. The cold from a shower causes constriction of the blood vessels in these areas, reducing swelling and fluid build-up.
This vasoconstriction helps shrink the swollen nasal membranes, opening up the nasal airways and sinuses. In turn, this relieves congestion and allows for better drainage of mucus and cleared breathing.
4. Helps Control Fever
Cold showers may also help control fevers and inflammation when you’re sick. Fevers are triggered by pyrogens, immune molecules that raise your body temperature to create a hostile environment for pathogens.
But very high fevers over 104°F can be dangerous. Cold exposure can help lower fever and reduce risk. Likewise, cold showers constrict blood vessels and limit blood flow to the skin, causing your body to shed excess heat. This may gently bring down an elevated temperature.
Cold water may also limit the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines that, while helpful initially, can cause tissue damage at high levels. This regulates the immune response.
It’s important to note that fevers are a natural part of the immune response, so lowering a fever too drastically could potentially hinder the body’s ability to fight off an infection. But modest cold therapy likely does not interfere with immune function. Lukewarm water is often recommended for children over icy temperatures. This may provide comfort and limit the fever’s metabolic strain during illness.
5. Stimulates Lymphatic Drainage
The lymphatic system is a network of vessels and nodes that transports fluid, waste, and white blood cells around the body. Good lymphatic drainage and flow support immune function.
Cold showers cause vasoconstriction of blood vessels, which in turn squeezes and activates adjacent lymphatic vessels. This promotes better drainage of lymph fluid throughout the body.
Lymph contains lymphocytes and antibodies to fight infection. Improved lymphatic flow could circulate these immune cells more efficiently to areas in need, stimulating immune activity.
Cold exposure may also mobilize damaged cells, cellular debris, and toxic byproducts of infection into lymph so they can be filtered and removed by lymph nodes.
6. Improves Negative Moods
Being sick can negatively impact your mood and emotions. However, research shows that cold showers increase dopamine and endorphins (the “feel good” neurochemicals that boost mood) by activating your sympathetic nervous system.
This cold-stimulated neurochemical surge may help alleviate feelings of sadness, irritability, and despair that often accompany illness. The refreshing sensory jolt can also provide a distraction from you feeling sick.
7. Relieves Symptoms
A quick cold shower can provide a sense of refreshment that temporarily relieves symptoms like body aches, headaches, and stuffy sinuses.
The cold may distract your senses and block pain signals, while the stimulation could boost endorphins to improve your mood. This short-term relief may help you rest and heal.
However, always monitor your symptoms closely and avoid exerting yourself too much when sick. Talk to your doctor if you have concerns about any underlying health conditions.
The Dangers of Cold Showers When Sick
While some studies have hinted that brief cold showers may provide certain benefits like anti-inflammatory effects and stimulating white blood cell production, experts caution that icy water may strain the body when it’s already fighting infection.
Here are some of the risks to consider.
1. Strain on Cardiovascular System
When someone is sick, their blood often becomes thicker and more viscous. This means it flows more slowly and is harder for the heart to pump. Cold showers can further amplify this strain. Frigid water triggers the blood vessels in the skin and extremities to abruptly constrict as your body tries to preserve core temperature and vital organ function. This reflexive vasoconstriction leads to a spike in systemic vascular resistance and blood pressure.
For those with pre-existing heart conditions like coronary artery disease or hypertension, this shock of cold can place a dangerous strain on the cardiovascular system. The heart has to work harder against higher resistance to pump blood, which could precipitate events like cardiac arrhythmia, irregular heartbeats, stroke, or even sudden heart attack in susceptible individuals.
2. Worsening Respiratory Symptoms
Cold air and water can irritate and inflame respiratory tracts, exacerbating symptoms for those battling illnesses like flu, pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma, COVID-19, and other infections that affect the lungs and airways. Breathing in icy air may provoke coughing fits as the cold triggers constriction and spasms of the bronchial tubes. Coughing forcefully ejects mucus but can also damage the throat and disrupt rest necessary for recovery.
The chilled environment also inhibits the body’s natural ability to break down and effectively clear excess phlegm, fluid, and mucus buildup in the respiratory tracts. As secretions accumulate, breathing difficulties and shortness of breath may be aggravated.
3. Risk of Hypothermia
Without proper precautions, full body exposure to profoundly cold water can cause core body temperature to drop. This hypothermic state makes it harder for the immune system to effectively regulate warmth in an already weakened state.
Those who are very young or elderly, as well as individuals with poor circulation, chronic medical conditions, or respiratory illness, are at heightened risk of developing a dangerously low core temperature from cold showering. Fever further hinders the body’s ability to thermoregulate.
4. Suppressed Immune Response
Research indicates that routine cold therapy may help boost long-term immune function. However, acute cold exposure signals the body to constrict blood flow to the extremities and suppress non-vital immune processes while prioritizing heat generation through mechanisms like shivering.
This redistribution of resources away from directly attacking infection to focus solely on preventing hypothermia can be counterproductive when your immune system is already mounted against an active viral or bacterial illness. The cold may blunt the body’s efforts to fight the pathogen invading it.
Who Should Avoid Cold Showers When Sick?
While brief cold showers may help strengthen the immune system in many people, certain groups are better off avoiding cold exposure when ill:
- Elderly: The elderly are at higher risk of hypothermia. Cold immersion causes blood vessel constriction that can further increase blood pressure.
- Heart disease patients: Those with heart conditions could experience arrhythmias, palpitations, or heart attacks triggered by the cold.
- Respiratory infection: Cold air may worsen breathing difficulties, fluid buildup, and inflammation of respiratory illnesses like pneumonia, bronchitis, COVID-19, or flu.
- Asthma: Cold air is a common asthma trigger that can cause airway constriction, wheezing, and coughing.
- Fever: Cold temperatures can suppress immune function and shivering response in those already fighting infection with an elevated temperature.
- Young children: Infants and young children are susceptible to hypothermia from cold exposure. Their immune systems are also less robust.
- Pregnant women: Cold showers may impact circulation to the uterus and should be avoided in pregnancy unless approved by an OBGYN. Blood pressure changes also pose risks.
For these high-risk groups, warm showers are likely a safer option when sick.
Cold Shower Precautions While Sick
While a brief cold shower may be attempted by otherwise healthy adults when sick, caution is still warranted. Here are some key precautions to reduce risk:
- Consult your physician before changing health routines or with specific medical conditions.
- Begin with very short 10-30 second cold exposures and gradually increase over many weeks as tolerated.
- End normal showers with a quick cold rinse rather than a full cold shower, which carries greater risks.
- Stop immediately at any symptoms like dizziness, heart palpitations, trouble breathing, or worsened illness severity.
- Have warm towels ready to rewarm the body right after cold exposure.
- Stay well hydrated before and after cold hydrotherapy.
- Avoid total body submersion in icy water due to risks like hypothermia and shock.
- Shower at night to avoid shivering, which could aggravate symptoms long-term.
- Keep showers brief overall when sick to conserve energy and prevent exhaustion.
With prudent precautions, most healthy adults can likely derive some benefits from judiciously integrating short cold water exposure when ill. However, anyone at higher risk should avoid cold showers until the illness has fully resolved.
While an ancient therapy, cold hydrotherapy warrants modern safeguards when unwell. Check with your doctor before attempting.
Cold Showers and the Immune System
When we get sick, our immune system kicks into high gear to fight off invading germs and viruses. White blood cells, antibodies, and other components work together to kill off pathogens and stop infection.
But could exposing your body to cold temperatures help give your immune system a boost when you’re already under the weather? Here’s what the research says so far.
How the Immune System Fights Infection
When a virus or bacteria enters your body, your immune system responds in several ways:
- Dendritic cells detect the invader and alert white blood cells like T-cells and B-cells.
- T-cells kill infected cells directly, while B-cells produce antibodies that mark pathogens for destruction.
- Macrophages swallow up and digest germs, debris, and dead cells.
- Cytokines are chemical messengers that coordinate the immune response. Some are pro-inflammatory and call immune cells into action, while others are anti-inflammatory and promote healing.
- Memory T and B-cells can launch a quicker, stronger secondary response if a pathogen evades the initial immune response.
This coordinated immune reaction raises your body temperature, causing fever. Fever makes it tougher for germs to survive and replicate.
Research on Cold Showers and the Immune System
A growing body of research has investigated how cold temperature exposure—like cold showers—affects the human immune system. While taking a cold shower or ice bath may seem counterintuitive when you’re already sick, some studies suggest brief cold exposure could potentially provide certain benefits.
One small but frequently cited study titled “Immune system of cold-exposed and cold-adapted humans” looked at the effects of frequent cold water immersions on the immune response of healthy young men. In this study, 11 athletic men underwent an initial one-hour cold water immersion at 57°F (14°C).
The researchers analyzed immune system markers in the men’s blood before and after this single cold exposure. They found minimal changes, indicating a single cold immersion does not drastically alter immune function.
However, when the men repeated the 57°F (14°C) water immersions three times per week for 6 consecutive weeks, some notable changes were observed. After the 6 weeks, the men showed a significant increase in certain immune cells and proteins compared to baseline.
- Greater numbers of monocytes, a type of white blood cell that fights infection
- More lymphocytes activated with interleukin-2 receptors, which allow activation of T-cells
- Higher levels of plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha, a cell signaling protein that stimulates the immune response
The study concluded that repeated cold water immersions, by increasing metabolic rate and stress hormone levels, can activate the immune system to a slight degree.
Other small trials echo these findings. One study of 10 healthy individuals found that taking quick 3-minute cold showers after exercise helped limit exercise-induced immune changes.
Similarly, another study in healthy men found 5 consecutive days of prolonged cold water immersion decreased levels of certain pro-inflammatory immune mediators.
While preliminary research indicates that frequent cold temperature exposure may induce subtle enhancements in certain immune cells and proteins, the effects found were relatively minor. More research is still needed to make definitive conclusions about the immune benefits of therapies like cold showers.
In addition to its effects on immune cells, research shows that cold exposure also increases the release of cold shock proteins. These proteins are produced by cells in response to sudden drops in temperature.
They act as cellular antifreeze, protecting cell function and integrity in cold conditions. Some studies suggest cold shock proteins may also have immune-boosting effects.
Do Cold Showers Prevent Colds?
Research increasingly indicates that routine cold exposure can strengthen immunity and help prevent colds.
A large Dutch study found that taking daily cold showers led to 29% fewer sick days compared to hot showers. The cold water triggers the release of white blood cells and antibodies that boost the immune response.
A Czech study also saw consistent cold water immersion over 6 weeks enhanced immune cell counts and activity in young men.
The shock of cold on the body seems to activate its defenses. In addition to rousing white blood cells, cold showers may prevent illness by increasing metabolism, circulation, and anti-inflammatory effects. The cumulative evidence points to cold temperature as a beneficial stimulus that can prime the immune system against viruses.
While more research is required, the data so far strongly suggests that brief cold showers can potentially heighten resistance and reduce the risk of colds by stimulating the body’s natural defenses. For most people, making cold showers part of a regular health routine may help ward off sickness.
Can Cold Showers Make You Sick?
For healthy individuals, cold showers are likely safe, and research indicates they may even reduce illness risk.
However, some experts advise caution for certain groups like the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions. The constriction of blood vessels and the spike in blood pressure from cold exposure can exacerbate problems for those with heart disease or compromised immunity. Prolonged hypothermia from extreme cold can also be dangerous.
Yet, for most, brief cold showers seem to strengthen, not suppress, the immune system. Routine cold exposure has been shown to activate white blood cell production and other protective physiological responses.
With proper precautions and gradual acclimation, cold showers may provide immune-bolstering effects for many people without adverse effects.
Cold Showers and Specific Illnesses
Cold Showering When Sick With the Flu
Influenza, or “the flu,” is a common viral infection of the nose, throat, and lungs that can put tremendous strain on your body. Cold showers when sick with the flu may provide some benefits but also require caution.
Potential Benefits:
- May provide temporary relief for sore muscles and body aches
- Can gently lower high fevers if water is lukewarm rather than frigid cold
- Improves circulation which may increase nutrient delivery to infected areas
- Could motivate immune cells to keep fighting the viral infection
Potential Risks:
- Prolonged cold exposure may tax the already strained body
- Sudden cold can aggravate chills, shivering, and fatigue
- Very cold temps may hinder immune function temporarily
Ultimately, cold showers do not appear to be an effective treatment for the flu itself. But they may provide some temporary symptom relief and sense of refreshment in adults without other health conditions.
Is It Bad to Cold Shower When You Have a Cough?
Coughs are a common symptom of infections and irritants affecting the throat and lungs. Can cold showers help or exacerbate coughs?
On the one hand, cold water does stimulate coughing as a reflex—which could be good for clearing mucus but may also aggravate an irritated cough.
On the other hand, briefly, clearer sinuses and reduced inflammation via vasoconstriction may make it easier to cough up phlegm.
Tips if trying cold showers with a cough:
- Start with the chest and throat in warm water, then briefly switch water to cold
- Turn cold water to the chest at an angle rather than directly on the throat
- Limit to quick 30-60 seconds of cold exposure
- Stop immediately if coughing or throat irritation worsens
- Stay hydrated and use cough drops to soothe your throat
While not a cure, quick cold bursts may provide temporary cough relief for some adults. But avoid if your cough is severe or worsens with cold water.
Do Cold Shower Help Sinus Infection?
Cold showers may temporarily relieve congestion from sinus infections by constricting blood vessels and reducing swelling.
However, prolonged cold exposure could also exacerbate inflammation. Cold showers do not treat the underlying infection itself, so appropriate medical treatment is still required.
Caution is advised for those prone to chronic sinus irritation. In general, brief cold showers can provide some symptom relief but can also aggravate sinus infections if overdone.
Do Cold Showers Help Relieve Headaches?
Headaches are extremely common when sick, but can a cold shower help provide relief?
Research indicates that cold therapy can stimulate the vagus nerve, triggering anti-inflammatory pathways in the brain, which may reduce headaches.
The cold also causes vasoconstriction in blood vessels around the skull and neck. This reduces blood volume and pressure which could alleviate headache pain.
However, very cold temperatures can also provoke migraines or ice cream headaches in some people.
If trying cold showers for tension headaches, start with lukewarm water, then turn to cold for 30-60 seconds. Focus frosty water on the back of the neck, shoulders, and upper back, and stop immediately if the headache worsens.
For a deeper dive into the effects of cold showers on headaches and migraines, check out our article Do Cold Showers Help Headaches?
Cold or Hot Shower When Sick
Fighting off illness often leaves us longing for the comfort of a steamy hot shower. But could a chilled shower actually relieve symptoms too? Finding the right temperature, or a combination of hot and cold, can optimize the benefits and minimize the risks when you’re under the weather.
Hot showers are soothing medicine for congestion. The humid heat loosens mucus and provides sweet relief for sore throats. The warmth also relieves chills, body aches, and loosens chest congestion caused by infections. Letting the hot water relax tense muscles can provide both physical and mental comfort when illness has you feeling cruddy.
However, potential downsides of hot showers exist too. High temperatures may worsen fever from illness and dehydrate the body. Prolonged hot showers also dilate blood vessels near the skin, which diverts blood flow from working muscles that need oxygen to recover. Overheating can leave you feeling drained rather than rejuvenated.
Here’s where brief cold shower exposure can help. Constricting blood vessels with cooler water reduces inflammation and gently lowers elevated body temperature from fevers. Alternating between hot and cold water sends blood flow to the skin and internal organs in cycles, improving circulation. Cold also activates certain white blood cells and causes the release of hormones that boost immunity and energy levels.
Of course, subjecting your body to icy water could exacerbate aches and fatigue as well. Prolonged chilling stresses the body, which could hamper immune function. Those with heart conditions or asthma should use caution with cold therapy too.
So which is better—a hot shower or a cold shower when you’re sick? Why not both?
Combining both hot and cold water in a contrast shower could provide dual benefits – clearing nasal passages with heat while stimulating the immune system with short cold bursts.
Transitioning between hot and cold water is invigorating and may improve circulation more than cold alone. Start with warm water, raise to hot to open congestion, then finish with 30-90 seconds of cold. The back-and-forth vasodilation and vasoconstriction improves blood flow and further aids the lymphatic system.