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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

2-week trial in 21 adults: cold water after workouts did not clearly change recovery

Malta and colleagues · European journal of applied physiology · 2023

Original title: Repeated cold-water immersion improves autonomic cardiac modulation following five sessions of high-intensity interval exercise.

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What the study found

No difference

Heart rate variability was higher with cold water (group-effect P = 0.037). Jump height, workout effort and muscle damage blood markers did not differ (P > 0.05).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
21 people · 21 active adults doing hard interval workouts
What was tested
11 minutes in 11°C water after each of five workouts over two weeks, vs resting
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
How long
2 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed; funded by Brazilian public agencies.
Journal
European journal of applied physiology, 2023
Source
PubMed record 37103570. 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: 21 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • –Short: 2 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • •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.

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 reviewer corrected 2 fields after reading the abstract. 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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