Is Cold Plunging Bad For Women?

Gather round, ladies. We have some refreshingly good news.

Contrary to the internet wellness chatter, there is no robust scientific evidence to suggest that your weekly cold plunge habit is bad for you, or that it’s going to mess with your hormone health.

“I was shocked when I heard this,” says François Haman, a biology professor at the University of Ottawa who has been studying cold exposure on the human body for the past 25 years. “It comes from nothing.”

Kelli McCormick, a post-doctoral fellow in the department of human kinetics at the University of Ottawa who studies cold exposure, concurs. “There’s no data to support women being afraid or fearful that cold water exposure will harm them more than men,” she says.

“There are some mice and rat studies that show negative effects,” she says. “But that’s because the animals were brought to the point of hypothermia.”

Hypothermia, when your core body temperature drops after exposure to cold, is a medical emergency for all human beings, she adds.  

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Haman has looked at women’s responses to cold during the extremes of their menstrual phases—the luteal and follicular phases, specifically—and says he found no difference in how they responded to cold at any given point in those phases.

Both Haman and McCormick agree that the only difference in the way men and women react to cold plunging may be who feels the temperature change the most acutely—and even that is variable.

Women are generally smaller than men, says Haman, and tend to lose heat faster, which means they may feel the cold more immediately. But “for men and women at same weight they respond pretty much the same way,” he says.

There’s only one group who should avoid the activity entirely: children.

“Whatever vulnerability we have as adults is multiplied because of their smaller body size,” says Haman.

The risks of ice bathing are real—but they aren’t gendered

Cold plunging or cold-water immersion therapies—in which you take a quick “dip” in a cold-water pool—have become exceedingly popular over the past couple of years, with a growing number of spas, gyms and health clubs offering the services. Many spas also pair cold immersion with saunas. (Haman is a fan of the sauna-cold therapy pairing, a process that will widen and constrict blood vessels, respectively, which he says is good for your cardiovascular system.)

But cold exposure, especially plunging into an ice hole in an otherwise frozen lake, comes with some real risks, and general awareness of those risks should guide how you engage in the activity.

Plunging into an ice hole can shock your body and cause risks to heart health; it can also damage the nerves of the hands and feet. (Haman recommends wearing neoprene gloves and booties for this type of cold plunge.)

Your muscles don’t work as well when you’re cold, so both Haman and McCormick say you shouldn’t ice plunge alone. And never submerge in water that is above waist level.

The water doesn’t have to be icy cold to derive benefit, says Haman. If you don’t feel good, bring the temperature up or reduce the time and frequency of the activity.

“Two to three minutes is all you need," says Haman, who takes a weekly plunge year-round.

Cold plunging isn’t a cure-all

Another risk to cold plunging is being oversold on its supposed benefits. Haman stresses there just isn't enough data to support claims that cold plunging can improve immunity or inflammation.

He did conduct a study that suggests acclimating to cold-water exposure helps keep cells healthy and reduces cell damage, and that has implications for longevity. This effect is similar to the type of positive impact that exercise has on our bodies.

Cold exposure is a stimulant, says Haman, and one that releases dopamine, a feel-good hormone, and serotonin, which is a painkiller. But the benefits are mostly psychological: it makes us feel better and helps us build resilience.

“Cold is a teacher,” he says. “Ice water will create cold shock and cold shock will last 30 seconds. It’s a reflex. It’s going to make you want to take a deep breath in,“ he explains.

Cold water exposure teaches you to control that response, Haman adds—“and that’s a good thing to control because it [helps] reduce the way [you] stress.”