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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

Trial in 15 people: cold water with carbon dioxide did not clearly aid recovery

Yoshimura and colleagues · Research in sports medicine (Print) · 2022

Original title: Effects of artificial CO2-rich cold-water immersion on repeated-cycling work efficiency.

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What the study found

No difference

Cycling efficiency and sprint power fell from first to second test in every condition. Blood lactate was lower with CO2 water than rest, but not than plain cold water.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
15 people · 15 people doing hard cycling tests
What was tested
20 minutes in 20°C water with extra carbon dioxide, or plain 20°C water, or rest, between two cycling tests
What it measured
Other health or performance measures
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Research in sports medicine (Print), 2022
Source
PubMed record 33300394. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • –Small: 15 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • •Measured other health measures, not muscle recovery, mood and immune health itself.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: muscle recovery and mood

    8

    1 benefit, 1 mixed, 5 no difference, 1 harm

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    8

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 4 no difference, 1 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

  4. Population studies

    3

    2 benefit, 1 mixed

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does cold plunging help recovery and mood?”

Eases soreness a little; mood unproven.

Confidence: low. Based on 30 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 7 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 1 mixed, 3 no difference, 1 harm. This one found no difference.

  • Open item for a person: Strength and performance recovery relabeled real_outcome per topic; Egaña 2019 and Yoshimura 2022 kept as function (same-session tests).

Other papers on the same step

See all 30 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads differed. The reviewer checked the abstract and kept the first read. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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