After exercising, should I take a cold or warm shower?

Taking cold showers after exercise is becoming an increasingly popular trend. In fact, it is a complex sports science topic.

Taking cold showers after exercise is becoming a trend - Photo: GI

Is cold shower really as good as rumored?

Recently, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have been flooded with videos about taking cold showers, even immersing the entire body in ice baths, as a "secret" to recovery after exercise.

Many clips have reached tens of millions of views, accompanied by images of soccer players, NBA players, Hollywood actors... stepping out of cold water tanks full of energy.

This popularity has led many to believe that taking a cold shower right after playing sports is the golden key to reducing muscle fatigue and increasing endurance.

This trend stems from research and experience in professional sports.

Cold water can constrict blood vessels, reducing blood flow to inflamed muscles, thereby helping to reduce swelling and limit muscle pain after intense exercise.

Some studies, such as in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living (2022), suggest that cold soaks may help speed recovery in endurance or high-impact sports.

This makes it easy for sports influencers to turn the cold shower experience into “addictive” content with the promise of instant recovery and instant gratification.

However, as international sports medicine experts emphasize, taking a cold shower after exercise is only suitable for some people, and can be counterproductive in others.

Mayo Clinic sports physicians warn that the cold-induced vasoconstriction response causes sudden changes in blood pressure and heart rate, which can be dangerous for people with heart disease, high blood pressure, circulatory disorders or asthma.

Other studies, published in the Journal of Physiology (2015) and the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, have shown that cold showers immediately after strength training can reduce the activity of the mTOR pathway – an important factor for muscle protein synthesis, thereby slowing muscle growth.

In addition, the “instant comfort” of cold water sometimes causes practitioners to skip other basic recovery steps such as stretching, nutritional supplementation, or getting enough sleep.

When should you take a cold shower and when should you take a warm shower?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), if you have just completed an endurance training or competition session, especially one that involved a lot of impact (such as long-distance running, soccer, basketball), or have been training twice a day, cold showers can help reduce inflammation and shorten recovery time.

In this case, the water temperature should be 10–15°C, the time should be 5–10 minutes to be effective without causing thermal shock.

Conversely, if the primary goal is to gain muscle, a cold shower immediately after exercise may not be optimal; in this case, a warm or room temperature shower helps maintain blood circulation, increases metabolism, and does not hinder muscle synthesis.

Cold showers are only good for some special cases - Photo: TN

Age and underlying health conditions should also be considered. Young, healthy people without heart disease or high blood pressure can try short cold showers and monitor their body's response.

Middle-aged and elderly people, or those with coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, or arrhythmia, should prioritize warm baths to avoid the risk of sudden vasoconstriction.

People with chronic muscle pain, arthritis, or who have just experienced a minor injury are often advised to take a warm bath to relax their muscles, increase blood circulation, and help the recovery process go more smoothly.

For light exercise such as yoga, walking, recreational badminton, warm baths are often more suitable because they do not require a strong “anti-inflammatory” response as in high-intensity endurance or strength sports.

After HIIT, CrossFit, or competitive workouts, cold showers can serve as a good recovery aid, as long as they are done properly and are not contraindicated.

Whether you choose cold or warm water, the key is to listen to your body and not neglect other important recovery factors: stretching after exercise, replenishing fluids and electrolytes, eating a nutritious diet, and getting good sleep.

Bathing is part of the process, not the only solution. The cold shower trend may be beneficial for some people, but it is not always good, and should never be applied mechanically just because it is an online “trend”.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tap-the-thao-xong-nen-tam-nuoc-lanh-hay-nuoc-am-20250809194110478.htm