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Randomized trial · measured lab tests or safety

A 13-week trial in 60 adults found higher antibody levels with daily cold showers

El-Ansary and colleagues · Journal of thermal biology · 2024

Original title: Regular cold shower exposure modulates humoral and cell-mediated immunity in healthy individuals.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Antibody levels rose in the cold shower group, and IL-2 and IL-4 were raised at 90 days. IgM fell in the hot shower group at 60 and 90 days. IFN-γ and TNF-α did not differ between groups.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
60 people · 60 healthy Egyptian adults
What was tested
A cold shower or a hot shower every day for 90 days
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
How long
13 weeks
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Journal of thermal biology, 2024
Source
PubMed record 39299098. 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.
  • •Medium size: 60 people.
  • •Lasted 13 weeks.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for muscle recovery, mood and immune health. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    3

    1 benefit, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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 2 papers on the same step: 2 no difference. This one found benefit. It differs from most of them.

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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