Reasons why athletes take ice baths
Athletes are known to push their bodies to the extreme. An extreme that we mere mortals realistically cannot get to unless we also had years of intense training. With intense training comes intense muscle pain, and that can be helped! Athletes know their limits, and when they get there, they know what their bodies need in order to recuperate. One of the ways athletes care for themselves after all their work is by taking ice baths. It acts just like a giant ice pack that engulfs your entire body and cools it down.
You may ask yourself, why tolerate an incredibly cold bath? It must be agonizing, not relaxing. Well, not exactly. There are many ice bath benefits that help athletes a great deal. In this blog post, we’ll share with you the reasons why athletes take ice baths, and maybe you might be convinced to try it out yourself.
Aids in muscle recovery
Due to the rigorous training and competitions, athletes get injured quite often. They know how to take care of their bodies so the injuries they may sustain don’t get too severe. One of those ways is by submerging themselves in an ice bath. Getting into an ice bath after training or competition brings many benefits to the body such as reducing the swelling of the muscles and damage it can sustain from exercise. With an ice bath, athletes are ready for the next training day quicker than before.
Gives a metabolism boost
The cold exposure that you get in an ice bath will help increase the brown fat in your body. The brown fat also called brown adipose tissue, is a unique fat that gets triggered when you get cold. The brown adipose tissue is responsible for maintaining your body temperature when it’s cold. This process gives a metabolism boost.
Enhances circulation
Having proper circulation is an important factor of body care each athlete takes seriously. Without proper circulation, the problems athletes face that are normally manageable can get a lot worse. These problems include muscle swelling, cramping, and general pain. Ice baths help reduce that pain and tenderness by enhancing circulation in the body. How does it do that? When you’re in an ice bath, the cold constricts your blood vessels, and when you get out of the bath your body has to warm itself back up. It does so by increasing the blood flow to the surface of your skin as well as your muscles. This improves the circulation in your body. A cold shower after a little workout does the same as well.
Helps better their mental health
It’s no shock that stepping into an ice bath would send a jolt through your body. Athletes have stated before how ice baths help them get a clear mind. An ice bath can act as a reset for your body and mind, bettering your mood. The longer you are in the ice bath the calmer you’ll get. This is because the cold activates the vagus nerve in your nervous system to decrease the levels of stress and anxiety. The vagus nerve is part of the nervous system that controls a few specific functions in your body, including your heart rate.