7 best ice baths 2024 & the benefits of cold water therapy

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If we’re stripping off and getting into a less-than-cosy bath, there better be a good reason. Research suggests that ice baths have benefits in terms of improved recovery, mood and sleep, but more data is currently needed to ascertain any suggested boost to skin quality or aiding weight loss.

As Davies explains: “Physical benefits include reduced inflammation, improving your central nervous system, helping with things like sleep and speeding up muscle recovery. Meanwhile, the psychological benefits include helping with anxiety, stress and depression.” So, how does it work?

“It’s due to the release of norepinephrine in the body – essentially the stress you put your body through when doing an ice bath – so it helps you train your parasympathetic system,” says Davies. “This means you’re better able to overcome and deal with stressful situations in your day to day life.”

Is it as simple as bracing yourself and hoping for the best? Getting in quickly, like you would a swimming pool? And is there an optimum time of day that you can reap the benefits?

“There will be a large variety of what people think the best routine is,” says Davies. “Typically I’d recommend doing it in the morning. Mainly down to the fact that after you jump out you feel so alert it’s like you’ve drunk 10 cups of coffee. That’s the last thing you want before going to sleep. Also the dopamine rush is high meaning you feel great and ready to take on the day.”

It’s vital to ease yourself in, too, and we don’t just mean getting in to the tub itself slowly.

“To do an ice bath safely I’d suggest not doing a super cold one to start off with,” advises Davies. “Mine typically ranges from between 4-6 degrees Celsius. I’d suggest having your water between 10-15 degrees to start and then as you build up a tolerance to the cold you can make your ice bath colder. I spend four minutes each day in mine but you can start with one minute and gradually build up. I know people that spend up to 20 minutes a time in their bath.

“If you’re a first timer make sure to get in slowly and try to focus on controlling your breathing,” he continues. “Long and deep breaths. The cold can take your breath away but the more you’re able to control it and relax into it the more manageable it will become.”

If you’re still feeling nervous, he suggests doing it with a family member, partner or friend on hand for reassurance: “I’d also recommend for your first few goes doing it with somebody else there watching you. Just in case anything happens they can be there to help you at any point.”

There’s a lot of debate around how long you need to spend in your ice bath, with little evidence that longer equals better. As Davies explains: “This is a super contentious subject. Whilst some people spend a longer period in their baths, some recent studies have shown that to gain the benefits of ice baths you only need to spend cumulatively 12 minutes a week doing cold water submersion.”

You might think an ice bath implies zero degrees, but actually, it’s not as cold as you might think. “The research shows that you can get the desired effects from an ice bath that is 10-15 degrees Celsius - although you may have to stay in it slightly longer,” explains Davies. “Hence why I like mine to be around 4-6 degrees Celsius so that I only have to spend four minutes at a time in it. Obviously if you go any colder than 1 degree the water will freeze. But as I touched on earlier, if you’re a newbie, start with your bath between 10-15 degrees Celsius.”

If you don’t fancy filling up your regular bathtub with cold water and ice cubes, and you don’t want to invest in a new one yet, then can you get the same benefits through, say, cold showers? The answer is yes – and no. “You will still get some benefits from doing cold showers and it’s not a bad way to build up your tolerance to cold water,” concedes Davies. “However, you can’t get a shower as cold as an ice bath and your whole body is never submerged so if you’re looking to get the full benefits of cold water therapy then ice bathing is the way to go.”