Does Cold Water Immersion Treat Aging and Chronic Diseases?

According to a new study, a week-long cold water immersion can stimulate the body's cells to initiate autophagy to clean up and recycle old, worn, and broken parts. This study highlights the potential of ice baths as a treatment for aging or chronic diseases.

Earlier this year, New Atlas reported on a study on the health benefits of cold water immersion and bathing to determine if they have a scientific basis. Among the findings the researchers deemed "unexpected" was a short-term increase in inflammation associated with cold water immersion.

Benefits of Cold Water Immersion

According to a new study published in the journal Advanced Biology, a study conducted by the University of Ottawa in Canada has shown that continuous cold water immersion for seven consecutive days allows cells to adapt and induces actual changes in their protective functions.

“The results suggest that repeated exposure to cold significantly improves autophagy function, a key cellular protection mechanism,” said Glenn Kenny, a professor emeritus in the University of Ottawa’s School of Human Locomotion, director of the Human and Environmental Physiology Research Unit (HEPRU), and lead author of the study.

Impact on Your Cells

Think of each cell as a small house. Over time, the materials inside these houses age, deteriorate, or become unnecessary—things like damaged proteins, worn-out cell parts, or invading germs. Autophagy is the clean-up crew that finds the waste, encapsulates it in a tiny bubble, degrades it, and reuses the remaining good materials. Autophagy keeps cells healthy, helps protect against disease, and plays a major role during exercise or fasting by helping provide energy and nutrients.

In the current study, researchers asked 10 healthy, physically active men, with an average age of 23, to immerse themselves in water at 14°C for one hour each day for seven consecutive days. The researchers monitored proteins in the men's blood to see how cold-water immersion affected cellular stress responses, including autophagy, inflammation, and heat shock responses.

Although the name is somewhat misleading in this context, the "heat shock response" refers to cellular stress in general, not just heat. When a person immerses themselves in cold water, their cells experience sudden stress that can disrupt their proteins, causing them to misfold or clump. This triggers the body's emergency repair mode, the heat shock response. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are produced to help refold misfolded proteins, prevent clumping, and send truly damaged proteins for recycling (sometimes via autophagy).

Treating Aging and Chronic Disease

"By the end of the acclimation period, we observed a significant improvement in the participants' ability to tolerate cold," said study lead author Kelly King, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at HEPRU. "This suggests that cold acclimation may help the body effectively adapt to harsh environmental conditions."

The researchers believe the study's implications go beyond the common use of cold water immersion to help athletes recover after exercise. They say their findings that continuous cold water immersion positively impacts autophagy warrant further research into the impact of this intervention on aging and people with chronic diseases. Future research should also extend beyond just males and use a larger sample size.